BtRKElEY\ 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

LX 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

LIBRARY 


\ 


k—  - 


ESSAY 

ON  THE 

THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 


ESSAY 


ON  THE 

THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

BY  M.  CUVIER, 

PERPETUAL  SECRETARY  OF  THE  FRENCH  INSTITUTE,  PROFESSOR  AND 
ADMINISTRATOR  OF  THE  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY,  &C.  &C. 


WITH 

MIJYERdLOGICdL  NOTES, 

AND 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  CUVIER'S  GEOLOGICAL  DISCOVERIES, 


BY  PROFESSOR  JAMESON. 


TO  WHICH  ARE  NOW  ADDERS, ^  ?"•',*„;    I 

OBSERVATIONS 

ON  THE 

GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA; 

ILLUSTRATED 

BY  THE  DESCRIPTION  OF  VARIOUS  ORGANIC  REMAINS, 
FOUND  IN  THAT  PART  OF  THE  WORLD. 

BY  SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL, 

Eotan.  Mineral,  et  Zoolog.  in  Univere,  Nov.  Eborac.  Prof.  &c.  &c. 


PUBLISHED  BY  KIRK  &  MERCEIN, 

KO.  22  WALL-STREET. 
Priut«d  by  W.  A.Merceih,  ^o.  93  Geid-Street. 

18*8. 


EARTH 
SCIENCE^1 


•"••..•"  •  •*•*•.  .*  Southern  District  of  JVew-York,  s§, 

*  BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  that  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  February,  in  the  forty- 
second  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Kirk  &  Mercein, 
of  the  said  District,  have  deposited  in  this  office  the  title  of  a  Book,  the  right  where- 
of they  claim  as  Proprietors,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit ; 

"  Essay  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth.  By  M.  Cuvier,  Perpetual  Secretary  of  the 
French  Institute,  Professor  and  Administrator  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
&c.  &c.  With  Mineralogical  Notes,  and  an  Account  of  Cuvier's  Geological  Disco- 
veries, by  Professor  Jameson.  To  which  are  now  added,  Observations  on  the 
Geology  of  North  America  ;  illustrated  by  the  Description  of  various  Organic  Re- 
mains, found  in  that  part  of  the  world.  By  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  Botan.  Mineral,  et 
Zoolog.  in  Umrers.  Nov.  Eborac.  Prof.  &c.  &c." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "  An 
Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts, 
and  Books  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  time  therein 
mentioned."  <And  also  to  an  Act,  entitled  "  An  Act,  supplementary  to  an  Act, 
entitled  an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps, 
Charts,  and  Books  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times 
therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  en- 
graving, and  etching  historical  and  other  prints." 

JAMES  DILL, 
Clerk  of  the  Southern  District  of  Now- York. 


PREFACE. 


THE  attention  of  naturalists  was  early  direct- 
ed to  the  investigation  of  the  fossil  organic  re- 
mains so  generally  and  abundantly  distributed 
throughout  the  strata  of  which  the  crust  of  the 
earth  is  composed.  It  is  not,  as  some  writers 
now  imagine,  entirely  a  modern  study ;  for  even 
so  early  as  the  time  of  Leibnitz,  we  find  that 
philosopher  drawing  and  describing  fossil  bones. 
After  this  period  it  continued  to  interest  indivi- 
duals, and  engage  the  particular  attention  of 
societies  and  academies.  The  Royal  Society 
of  London,  by  the  Memoirs  of  Sloane,  Collin- 
son?  Lister,  Derham,  Baker,  Grew,  Hunter,  Ja- 
cobs, Plott,  Camper,  and  many  others,  afforded 
satisfactory  proofs  of  the  importance  attached 


M807C6 


VI  PREFACE. 

to  this  branch  of  natural  history  by  philoso- 
phers in  England ;  and  the  :  Memoirs  of  M. 
Graydon,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  show  that  it  was  not  entirely  neglect- 
ed in  Ireland.  On  the  continent  of  Europe  the 
natural  history  of  petrifactions  was  also  much 
studied,  as  appears  from  the  Memoirs  of  Holl- 
uian,  Beckman,  and  Blumenbach,  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Royal  Society  of  Gottingen  ; — 
of  Gmelin,  Pallas,  Herrmann,  Chappe,  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Science 
of  Petersburg!! ; — of  Geoffroi,  Buffon,  Dauben- 
ton,  Faujas,  St.  Fond,  and  others  of  the  old 
French  Academy  of  Sciences ; — of  A^sturc  and 
Riviere,  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Montpellier ; — of  Collini,  of  the  Academia  Theo- 
doro-Palatina,  at  Manheim,  £$c.  But  the  geog- 
nostical  relations  of  the  rocks  in  which  these 
organic  remains  are  contained  were  but  ill  un- 
derstood, until  Werner  pointed  out  the  mode 
of  investigating  them.  His  interesting  and  im- 
portant views*  were  circulated  from  Freyberg, 

*  See  Note  L. 


PREFACE.  Vli 

by  the  writings  and  conversations  of  his  pupils, 
and  have  contributed  materially  to  the  advance- 
ment of  this  branch  of  natural  history  in  Ger- 
many, France,  and  also  in  Great  Britain.  Pe- 
trifactions are  no  longer  viewed  as  objects  of 
mere  curiosity,  as  things  isolated  and  unrelated 
to  the  rocks  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is 
composed ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  now  con- 
sidered as  one  of  the  most  important  features 
in  the  strata  of  all  regions  of  the  earth.  By 
the  regularity  and  determinate  nature  of  their 
distribution,  they  afford  characters  which  assist 
us  in  discriminating  not  only  single  beds,  but 
also  whole  formations  of  rocks ;  and  in  this 
respect  they  are  highly  interesting  to  the  geog- 
nostical  inquirer.  To  the  geologist  this  beau- 
tiful branch  of  natural  history  opens  up  nume- 
rous and  uncommonly  curious  views  of  nature 
in  the  mineral  kingdom:  it  shows  him  the 
commencement  of  the  formation  of  organic 
beings, — it  points  out  the  gradual  succession  in 
the  formation  of  animals,  from  the  almost  pri- 
mseval  coral  near  the  primitive  strata,  through 
all  the  wonderful  variety  of  form  and  structure 


V1U  PREFACE. 

observed  in  shells,  fishes,  amphibious  animals, 
and  birds,  to  the  perfect  quadruped  of  the  al- 
luvial land ;  and  it  makes  him  acquainted  with 
a  geographical  and  physical  distribution  of  or- 
ganic beings  in  the  strata  of  the  globe  very  dif- 
ferent from  what  is  observed  to  hold  in  the 
present  state  of  the  organic  world.  The  zoo- 
logist views  with  wonder  and  amazement  those 
hosts  of  fossil  animals,  sometimes  so  similar  to 
the  present  living  species,  at  other  times  so  far 
removed  from  them  in  form  and  structure. 
He  compares  the  fossil  orders,  genera,  and  spe- 
cies with  those  now  inhabiting  the  earth's  sur- 
face, or  living  in  its  waters,  and  discovers  that 
there  is  a  whole  system  of  animals  in  a  fossil 
state  different  from  the  present.  Even  the 
physiologist,  in  the  various  forms,  connexions, 
and  relations  of  the  parts  of  those  animals,  ob- 
tains new  facts  for  his  descriptions  and  reason- 
ings. Such,  then,  being  the  nature  of  this 
branch  of  natural  history,  it  is  not  surprising 
that,  when  once  understood,  it  should  have 
many  and  zealous  cultivators,  and  occupy  the 
talents  of  men  of  learning  and  sagacity.  In 


PREFACE.  IX 

our  time,  Cuvier,  the  celebrated  Professor  of 
Natural  History  in  Paris,  has  eminently  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  numerous  discoveries, 
accurate  descriptions,  and  rational  views  in  this 
subject.  His  work  on  Fossil  Organic  Remains, 
of  which  we  have  given  an  account  in  the  fol- 
lowing Illustrations,  will  always  remain  a  monu- 
ment worthy  of  its  author. 

The  Essay  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth,  now 
translated,  is  the  introductory  part  of  the  great 
work  of  Cuvier.  The  subject  of  the  deluge 
forms  a  principal  object  of  this  elegant  dis- 
course. After  describing  the  principal  results 
at  which  the  theory  of  the  earth,  in  his  opi- 
nion, has  arrived,  he  next  mentions  the  various 
relations  which  connect  the  history  of  the  fossil 
bones  of  land  animals  with  these  results;  ex- 
plains the  principles  on  which  is  founded  the 
art  of  ascertaining  these  bones,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  discovering  a  genus,  and  of  distin- 
guishing a  species,  by  a  single  fragment  of  bone  ; 
and  gives  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  results  to  which 

2 


X  PREFACE. 

his  researches  lead,  of  the  new  genera  and  spe- 
cies which  these  have  been  the  means  of  dis- 
covering, and  of  the  different  formations  in 
which  they  are  contained.  Some  naturalists, 
as  La  Mark,  having  maintained  that  the  pre- 
sent existing  races  of  quadrupeds  are  mere 
modifications  or  varieties  of  those  ancient  races 
which  we  now  find  in  a  fossil  state,  modifica- 
tions which  may  have  been  produced  by  change 
of  climate,  and  other  local  circumstances,  and 
since  brought  to  the  present  great  difference 
by  the  operation  of  similar  causes  during  a  long 
succession  of  ages, — Cuvier  shows  that  the  dif- 
ference between  the  fossil  species  and  those 
which  now  exist,  is  bounded  by  certain  limits ; 
that  these  limits  are  a  great  deal  more  exten- 
sive than  those  which  now  distinguish  the  va- 
rieties of  the  same  species ;  and,  consequently, 
that  the  extinct  species  of  quadrupeds  are  not 
varieties  of  the  present  existing  species.  This 
very  interesting  discussion  naturally  leads  our 
author  to  state  the  proofs  of  the  recent  popu- 
lation of  the  world;  of  the  comparatively 


PREFACE.  Xi 

modern  origin  of  its  present  surface ;  of  the 
deluge,  and  the  subsequent  renewal  of  human 
society. 

In  order  to  render  this  Essay  more  complete 
and  satisfactory,  I  have  illustrated  the  whole 
with  an  extensive  series  of  observations,  and 
have  arranged  them  in  such  a  manner  that  they 
will  be  readily  accessible,  not  only  to  the  natu- 
ralist, but  also  to  the  general  reader. 

Since  the  publication  of  the  former  edition 
of  this  Essay,  many  curious  discoveries  have 
been  made  in  regard  to  fossil  organic  remains ; 
— some  of  these  are  included  in  the  Illustra- 
tions at  the  end  of  the  Essay,  others  \yant  of 
room  forces  us  to  omit.  But  we  cannot  allow 
the  present  opportunity  to  pass,  without  briefly 
describing  that  remarkable  fossil  animal  alrea- 
dy noticed  in  a  very  cursory  manner  in  page 
266,  as  we  are  now  enabled  to  present  the 
English  reader  with  a  representation  of  it  from 
a  drawing  of  Sommerring,  in  the  Denkschriften 


Xil  PREFACE. 

der  Koniglichen  Academic  der  Wissenschaften 
zu  Munchen,  for  1811  and  181&,  which  has  just 
reached  this  country. 

The  fossil  animal  there  represented  was 
found  many  years  ago  in  the  limestone  quarries 
of  Aechstedt,  and  described  by  the  late  Collini 
in  the  5th  volume  of  the  Actorum  Academic 
Theodoro-Palatinse.  He  considered  it  as  an 
extraordinary  species  of  fish.  Cuvier,  from  an 
inspection  of  the  plate  of  Collini,  was  of  opi- 
nion that  it  was  an  amphibious  animal;  Blu- 
menbach  was  inclined  to  view  it  as  a  webb- 
footed  bird ;  and  now  Sommerring  has  ascer- 
tained, from  an  actual  inspection  of  the  speci- 
men itself,  that  its  characters  are  very  different 
from  those  of  birds,  amphibious  animals,  or 
fishes,  but  agree  with  those  of  animals  of  the 
class  mammalia ;  in  this  opinion  coinciding  with 
that  advanced  by  a  sagacious  and  profound 
naturalist,  Hermann.  It  is  named  by  Sommer- 
ring ornithocephalus  antiquus,  from  the  resem- 
blance of  its  head  to  that  of  a  bird. 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

It  appears  to  form  one  of  a  series  of  animals 
intermediate  between  the  class  mammalia  and 
class  aves.  In  the  scale  of  nature,  its  place  ap- 
pears to  be  between  flying  quadrupeds  and 
birds,  Und  certainly  it  has  a  more  close  resem- 
blance to  birds  than  the  famed  ornithorynchus,or 
duck-billed  quadruped  of  New  Holland.  The 
skeleton  represented  in  the  plate  is  about  10 
inches  4  lines  long,  and  appears  somewhat 
compressed  and  distorted,  owing  to  the  con- 
traction and  pressure  of  the  limestone  in  which 
it  is  contained.  Sommerring  is  of  opinion  that 
it  is  a  flying  quadruped  analogous  to  the  bat ; 
and  of  all  the  families  of  the  genus,  most  nearly 
allied  to  that  named  pteropus.  It  differs  from 
the  pteropi,  however,  in  having  four  toes  in 
place  of  five ;  and  in  the  circumstance  of  one 
only  of  the  toes  of  the  fore  feet  being  elon- 
gated, whereas  in  the  pteropi,  four  of  the  toes 
are  elongated,  one  only  being  short. 

The  cranium  is  uncommonly  small,  the  orbits 
of  enormous  magnitude,  and  the  jaws  longer 
than  the  body,  and  provided  with  sharp  and 


XIV  PREFACE. 

slightly  bent  teeth.  The  neck  is  the  length  of 
the  body,  and,  like  that  of  most  mammiferous 
animals,  composed  of  seven  vertebrae.  There 
are  four  legs,  on  each  leg  four  toes,  and  all  of 
them  provided  with  claws.  In  the  fore  legs 
one  of  the  toes  is  very  much  elongated,  the 
other  three  are  short ;  the  hinder  legs  are  also 
of  considerable  length,  and  provided  with  toes, 
which  are  longer  than  those  upon  the  fore  feet. 
There  are  no  tarsal  bones,  only  metatarsal 
bones  and  claws;  the  tarsal  bones  appear  to 
have  been  of  a  softer  nature,  and  may  have 
been  destroyed.  There  is  a  distinct  tail. 

The  head,  in  its  general  form,  very  much 
resembles  that  of  birds  of  the  genus  scolopax 
of  Linnaeus.  From  the  magnitude  of  the  orbits, 
it  would  seem  that  this  animal  must  have  had 
very  large  eyes.  The  small,  sharp,  and  slightly 
bent  teeth,  and  wide  mouth,  would  intimate 
that  the  animal  did  not  live  on  plants,  but  ra- 
ther on  large  insects,  which  it  would  be  enabled 
to  catch  while  on  the  wing.  The  great  thick- 
ness  and  length  of  the  toe  of  the  fore  foot,  show 


PREFACE.  XV 

that  is  power  of  flying  must  have  been  consi- 
derable. 

All  the  species  of  the  genus  pteropus,  to 
which  this  animal  is  allied,  are  natives  of  the 
tropical  regions  of  the  earth  ;  hence  it  has  been 
inferred  that  this  animal  must  also  have  been 
an  inhabitant  of  a  warm  climate,  but  this  opi- 
nion is  destitute  of  plausibility. 


ROBERT  JAMESON. 


COLLEGE    OF   EDINBURGH, 

19th  April,  1817. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

1.  PRELIMINARY  Observations 25 

2.  Plan  of  this  Essay 28 

3.  Of  the  first  Appearance  of  the  Earth 29 

4.  First  Proofs  of  Revolutions  on  the  -Surface  of  the  Globe  30 

5.  Proofs  that  such  Revolutions  have  been  numerous 34 

6.  Proofs  that  the  Revolutions  have  been  sudden... 37 

7.  Proofs  of  the  Occurrence  of  Revolutions  .before  the 

Existence  of  Living  Beings 39 

8.  Examination  of  the  Causes  which  act  at  present  on  the 

Surface  of  our  Globe 44 

9.  Of  Slips,  or  Falling  Down  of  the  Materials  of  Moun- 

tains  * 45 

10.  Of  Alluvial  Formations 46 

11.  Of  the  Formation  of  Downs 48 

12.  Of  the  Formation  of  Cliffs,  or  steep  Shores 49 

13.  Of  Depositions  formed  in  Water 50 

14.  Of  Stalactites 51 

15.  Of  Lithophytes ib. 

16.  Of  Incrustations , 5t 

17.  Of  Volcanoes 53 

18.  Of  Astronomical   Causes   of  the   Revolutions   on   the 

Earth's  Surface „.,.,»  £5 

3 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 


19.  Of  former  Systems  of  Geology  .....................  .......     57 

20.  Diversities  of  the  Geological  Systems,  and  their  Causes     63 

21.  Statement  of  the  Nature  and  Conditions  of  the  Problem 

to  be  solved  ........................  .  .....................     64 

22.  Of  the  Progress  of  Mineral  Geology  .....................     67 

23.  Of  the  Importance  of  Extraneous  Fossils,  or  Petrifac- 

tions, in  Geology  .................  .  .....................     6-9 

24.  High  importance  of  investigating  the  Fossil  Remains  of 

Quadrupeds.  ............................................     71 

25.  Of  the  small  Probability  of  discovering  new  Species  of 

the  larger   Quadrupeds  ................................     74 

26.  Inquiry  respecting  the  Fabulous  Animals  of  the  Ancients     85 

27.  Of  the  Difficulty  of  distinguishing  the  Fossil  Bones  of 

Quadrupeds  .............................................     97 

28.  Results  of  the  Researches  respecting  the  Fossil  Bones 

of  (Quadrupeds  .............  .....  ........  .  .............  ...   109 

29.  Relations  of  the  Species  of  Fossil  Bones,  with  the  Stra- 

.  ta  in  which  they  are  found  .........  .  ...................  Ill 

-30.  Proofs  that  the  extinct  Species  of  Quadrupeds  are  not 

Varieties  of  the  present  existing  Species  ............  118 

31.  Proofs  of  the  recent  Population  of  the  World,  and  that 

its  present  Surface  is  not  of  very  ancient  Formation  133 

32.  Proofs  that  there  are  no  Human  Bones  in  the  Fossil 

State  ......................................................   120 

*32.  Proofs  from  Traditions,  of  a  great  Catastrophe,  and 

subsequent  Renewal  of  Human  Society  ..............  145 

33.  Proofs  derived  from  several  Miscellaneous  Considera- 

tions .............................................  .  ......  ..  161 

34.  Concluding  Reflections  ..................  ,  .................  165 

SUPPLEMENT,  being  an  Extract  from  the  Researches  of 

M.  de  Prony,  on  the  Hydraulic  System  of  Italy  ; 
containing  an  Account  of  the  Displacement  of  that 
Part  of  the  Coast  of  the  Adriatic  which  is  occupied 
by  the  Mouths  of  the  Po  ..................  ,  ...........  175 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

MINERALOGICAL  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

BY  PROFESSOR  JAMESON. 


PAGE 

A.  On  the  Subsidence  of  Strata 187 

B.  On  Primitive  Rocks 188 

C.  Crystallized  Marbles  resting  on  Shelly  Strata 190 

D.  Ro]led  Masses  upon  the  Mountains  of  Jura..... ib, 

E.  Salisbury  Craigs *.  191 

F.  On  the  Alluvial  Land  of  the  Danish  Islands  in  the  Bal- 

tic, and  on  the  Coast  of  Sleswick.. ib. 

GeestLand. 192 

Marsch  Lands 194 

Great  Rise  of  the  Ocean 197 

Frisian  Colony ib. 

Enclosing  the  Marsches „ 198 

Uniting  the  Islands.... 199 

Building  of  Dikes ., 202 

G.  On  the  Sand  Flood 205 

H.  Action  of  the  Sea  upon  Coasts..* 208 

I.    On  Coral  Islands 210 

K.  On  the  Diminution  of  the  Waters  of  the  Ocean 214 

L.  Werner's  Views  of  the  Natural  History  of  Petrifactions  217 

M.  On  the  Distribution  of  Petrifactions  in  the  Different 

Classes  of  Rocks 219 

TRANSITION  ROCKS. 

1.  Transition  Limestone , ib. 

2.  Greywacke , ••• 220 

3.  Clay  Slate ib. 

4.  Greywacke  Slate ,,,,..,.,. * ,....., ib. 


XX  CONTENTS. 


FLCETZ  BOCKS. 

PAGF 

I.  First  Sandstone 221 

II.  First  Floetz  Limestone 222 

1.  Alpine  Limestone ib. 

.2.  Bituminous  Marl  Slate ib. 

3.  Zechstein 223 

4.  Coal ib. 

III.  Second  red  or  variegated  Sandstone 224 

IV.  Second  Floetz  Limestone 225 

V.  Third  Flcetz  Limestone 226 

VI.  Chalk  Formation 229 

VII.  Flcetz  Trap  Rocks 232 

VIII.  Newest  Floetz  Trap ib. 

IX.  Newest  Floetz  Formations 233 

X.  Alluvial  Formations ib. 

M.  CUVIER'S  GEOLOGICAL  DISCOVERIES. 

Mineralogy  of  Paris 238 

•  •  I*  . .    .    m . . 

^  ' 

Fossil  Organic  Remains  described  by  Cuvier,  arranged  in  a 
Systematic  Order. 

CLASS.— MAMMALIA. 

ORDER. DIGITATA. 

Family.  Glires. 

Genera.    Cavia  ..*.. 240 

Mus ., ib. 

Family.  Ferae. 

Genera.     Ursus ........ 241 

Cam's... 243 

Felis ib. 

Viverra,. ,,,,,,,...,,,,,.,,.....,.,. ib. 


CONTENTS.  XXI 


Family.  Bruta. 

PAGE 
Genera.     Bradypus...  ..............................  .  ..........  244 

Megalonix  ..............................  .  .....  .......     ib. 

ORDER.  —  "MARSUPIALIA. 

Genera.     Didelphis  ............................  ...  ..........  ..  245 

ORDER.  -  SOLIDUNGULA. 

Genera.     Equus  ...........................  ..........  ......  ....     ib. 

ORDER.  -  BISULCA. 

Genera.     Cervus  .......................................  ......     ib. 

Bos  .................................  N  .............  ."..  248 

ORDER.  -  MULTUNGULA. 

Genera.     Rhinoceros  ..........................................  250 

Hippopotamus  ...............  .  ......................    ib. 

Tapir  ................................................  251 

Elephant  or  Mammoth  ............  .  ................  252 

Sus  ..................................................  255 

Mastodon  .......  .  ...........  .  ...........  .  ..........  .     ib. 

PalaBotherium  .....  .  .......  .  .....  ,  ...................  259 

Anoplotherium  .....  .......................  .........  260 

ORDER.  -  PALMATA. 

Family.     Glires. 
Genera.     Castor  .....  ....  ............................  .  .......  .,  261 

Family.    Ferce. 
Genera.     Phoca  ...........................  .  .......  ...  .......  ..     ib. 


Family.    Bruta. 
Genera.    Lamantin,,,,  ....................  ,.       ,,,,,.,,,,,,,      ib. 


XX11 


CONTENTS,. 


CLASS.— AVES. 

PAGE 

Sturnus.    Starling 262 

Coturnix.  Quail ib. 

Sterna.      Tern  ..* ib. 

Grails.      Wadders  ib. 

Pelicanus. Pelican ib. 

CLASS.— AMPHIBIA. 

ORDER. REPTILES. 

Genera.     Testudo — Tortoise  ib. 

Crocodilus 263 

Monitor 264 

Salamandra  265 

Bufo.  Toad  266 

Saurus ib. 

CLASS.— PISCES. 

Genera.     Amia 267 

Mormyrus ib. 

Paecilia  ib. 

Sparus  ,.... ib. 

OSSEOUS  CONGLOMERATE. 

1.  Gibraltar ib. 

2.  Cette ib. 

3.  Nice  and  Antibes ib. 

4.  Corsica 269 

5.  Dalmatia ib. 

6.  Island  of  Cerigo ib. 

7.  Concud,  in  Arragon 270 

8.  Vicentine  and  Veronese ib. 

Geological  Speculations ib. 

MlNERALOGICAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY  AROUND 

PARIS 271 

Chalk  Formation,.                                       272 


CONTENTS.  XX1U 

PAGE 

Plastic  Clay  Formation 273 

Marine  Limestone  Formation  274 

First  System  of  Strata ib. 

Second  System  of  Strata 275 

Third  System  of  Strata 276 

Fourth  System  of  Strata 277 

Siliceous  Limestone  without  Shells  ib. 

Gypsum  Formation  and  Marine  Marl 278 

Sandstone  and  Sand  without  Shells  285 

Upper  Marine  Sandstone  and  Sand ib. 

Millstone  without  Shells 286 

Flint  and  Siliceous  Limestone 288 

Alluvial 291 

General  Observations 292 

MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OF  ENGLAND. 

1.  Isle  of  Wight  Basin 296 

2.  London  Basin ib. 

FORMATIONS. 

Chalk  296 

1.  Lower  Marine  Formation,  including  the  Sand  and  Plas- 

tic Clay  and  the  London  or  Blue  Clay 297 

2.  Lower  Fresh  Water  Formation 303 

3.  Upper  Marine  Formation 304 

4.  Upper  Fresh  Water  Formation 307 

5.  Alluvial  Formations 308 

Formations  above  Chalk 311 

Formations  below  Chalk 313 

Letter  from  Mr.  Marsden  to  Professor  Jameson 316 


The  Plate  of  the  ORNITHOCEPHALUS  to  front  the  Title  Page. 


ESSAY 


ON 


THE  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH, 


§  1.  Preliminary  Observations. 

J_T  is  my  object,  in  the  following  work,  to  travel 
over  ground  which  has  as  yet  been  little  explored, 
and  to  make  my  reader  acquainted  with  a  species 
of  Remains,  which,  though  absolutely  necessary 
for  understanding  the  history  of  the  globe,  have 
been  hitherto  almost  uniformly  neglected. 

As  an  antiquary  of  a  new  order,  I  have  been 
obliged  to  learn  the  art  of  deciphering  and  re- 
storing these  remains,  of  discovering  and  bringing 
together,  in  their  primitive  arrangement,  the  scat- 
tered and  mutilated  fragments  of  which  they  are 
composed,  of  reproducing,  in  all  their  original  pro- 
portions and  characters,  the  animals  to  which  these 

4 


26 


fHEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 


fragments  formerly  belonged,  and  then  of  compar- 
ing them  with  those  animals  which  still  live  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth;  an  art  which  is  almost  unknown, 
and  which  presupposes,  what  had  scarcely  been 
obtairie-d  jbfcfore,  an  acquaintance  with  those  laws 
which  regulate  the  coexistence  of  the  forms  by 
wh'i'cih;  th>e  Different  parts  of  organized  beings  are 
distinguished.  I  had  next  to  prepare  myself  for 
these  inquiries  by  others  of  a  far  more  extensive 
kind,  respecting  the  animals  which  still  exist. 
Nothing,  except  an  almost  complete  review  of 
creation  in  its  present  state,  could  give  a  character 
of  demonstration  to  the  results  of  my  investiga- 
tion in  its  ancient  state ;  but  that  review  has  afford- 
ed me,  at  the  same  time,  a  great  body  of  rules 
and  affinities  which  are  no  less  satisfactorily  de- 
monstrated; and  the  whole  animal  kingdom  has 
been  subjected  to  new  laws  in  consequence  of  this 
Essay  on  a  small  part  of  the  theory  of  the  earth.* 

The  importance  of  the  truths  which  have  been 
developed  in  the  progress  of  my  labours,  has  con- 
tributed equally  with  the  novelty  of  my  principal 
results  to  sustain  and  encourage  my  efforts.  May 
it  have  a  similar  effect  on  the  mind  of  the  reader, 
and  induce  him  to  follow  me  patiently  through  the 
difficult  paths  in  which  I  am  under  the  necessity  of 
leading  him ! 


*  This  will  be  seen  more  at  large  in  the  extensive  work  upon  Com- 
parative Anatomy,  in  which  I  have  been  employed  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years,  and  which  I  intend  soon  to  prepare  for  publication. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  27 

The  ancient  history  of  the  globe,  which  is  the 
ultimate  object  of  all  these  researches,  is  also  of 
itself  one  of  the  most  curious  subjects  that  can  en- 
gage the  attention  of  enlightened  men ;  and  if  they 
take  any  interest  in  examining,  in  the  infancy  of  our 
species,  the  almost  obliterated  traces  of  so  many 
nations  that  have  become  extinct,  they  will  doubt- 
less take  a  similar  interest  in  collecting,  amidst 
the  darkness  which  covers  the  infancy  of  the  globe, 
the  traces  of  those  revolutions  which  took  place 
anterior  to  the  existence  of  all  nations. 

We  admire  the  power  by  which  the  human  mind 
has  measured  the  motions  of  globes  which  nature 
seemed  to  have  concealed  for  ever  from  our  view : 
Genius  and  science  have  burst  the  limits  of  space, 
and  a  few  observations,  explained  by  just  reason- 
ing, have  unveiled  the  mechanism  of  the  universe. 
Would  it  not  also  be  glorious  for  man  to  burst  the 
limits  of  time,  and,  by  a  few  observations,  to  ascer- 
tain the  history  of  this  world,  and  the  series  of 
events  which  preceded  the  birth  of  the  human 
race?  Astronomers,  no  doubt,  have  advanced 
more  rapidly  than  naturalists ;  and  the  present  pe- 
riod, with  respect  to  the  theory  of  the  earth,  bears 
some  resemblance  to  that  in  which  some  philoso- 
phers thought  that  the  heavens  were  formed  of 
polished  stone,  and  that  the  moon  was  no  larger 
than  the  Peloponnesus ;  but,  after  Anaxagoras,  we 
have  had  our  Copernicuses,  and  our  Keplers,  who 
pointed  out  the  way  to  Newton ;  and  why  should 
not  natural  history  also  have  one  day  its  Newton  ? 


28  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH* 


2.  Plan  of  this  Essay. 

What  I  now  offer  comprehends  but  a  few  of  the 
facts  which  must  enter  into  the  composition  of  this 
ancient  history.  But  these  few  are  important; 
many  of  them  are  decisive ;  and  I  hope  that  the 
rigorous  methods  which  I  have  adopted  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  them,  will  make  them  be 
considered  as  points  so  determinately  fixed  as  to 
admit  of  no  departure  from  them.  Though  this 
hope  should  only  be  realized  with  respect  to  some 
of  them,  I  shall  think  myself  sufficiently  rewarded 
for  my  labour. 

In  this  preliminary  discourse  I  shall  describe  the 
whole  of  the  results  at  which  the  theory  of  the 
earth  seems  to  me  to  have  arrived.  I  shall  men- 
tion the  relations  which  connect  the  history  of  the 
fossil  bones  of  land  animals  with  these  results,  and 
the  considerations  which  render  their  history  pe- 
culiarly important.  I  shall  unfold  the  principles  on 
which  is  founded  the  art  of  ascertaining  these 
bones,  or,  in  other  words,  of  discovering  a  genus 
and  of  distinguishing  a  species  by  a  single  frag- 
ment of  bone, — an  art  on  the  certainty  of  which 
depends  that  of  the  whole  work.  I  shall  give  a  ra- 
pid sketch  of  the  results  to  which  my  researches 
lead,  of  the  new  species  and  genera  which  these 
have  been  the  means  of  discovering,  and  of  the 
different  strata  in  which  they  are  found  deposited. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  29 

And  as  the  difference  between  these  species  and 
the  species  which  still  exist  is  bounded  by  certain 
limits,  I  shall  show  that  these  limits  are  a  great  deal 
more  extensive  than  those  which  now  distinguish 
the  varieties  of  the  same  species ;  and  shall  then 
point  out  how  far  these  varieties  may  be  owing  to 
the  influence  of  time,  of  climate,  or  of  domestica- 
tion. 

In  this  way  I  shall  be  prepared  to  conclude 
that  great  events  were  necessary  to  produce  the 
more  considerable  difterences  which  I  have  disco- 
vered: I  shall  next  take  notice  of  the  particular 
modifications  which  my  performance  should  intro- 
duce into  the  hitherto  received  opinions  respect- 
ing the  primitive  history  of  the  globe ;  and,  last  of 
all,  I  shall  inquire  how  far  the  civil  and  religious 
history  of  different  nations  corresponds  with  the  re- 
sults of  an  examination  of  the  physical  history  of 
the  earth,  and  with  the  probabilities  afforded  by 
such  examination  concerning  the  period  at  which 
societies  of  men  had  it  in  their  power  to  take  up 
fixed  abodes,  to  occupy  fields  susceptible  of  culti- 
vation, and  consequently  to  assume  a  settled  and 
durable  form. 

§  3.  Of  the  first  appearance  of  the  Earth. 

When  the  traveller  passes  through  those  fertile 
plains  where  gently-flowing  streams  nourish  in  their 
course  an  abundant  vegetation,  and  where  the 


30  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

soil,  inhabited  by  a  numerous  population,  adorned 
with  flourishing  villages,  opulent  cities,  and  superb 
monuments,  is  never  disturbed  except  by  the  rava- 
ges of  war  and  the  oppression  of  tyrants,  he  is  not 
led  to  suspect  that  nature  also  has  had  her  intes- 
tine wars,  and  that  the  surface  of  the  globe  has 
been  much  convulsed  by  successive  revolutions 
and  various  catastrophes.  But  his  ideas  change 
as  soon  as  he  digs  into  that  soil  which  presented 
such  a  peaceful  aspect,  or  ascends  the  hills  which 
border  the  plain;  they  are  expanded,  if  I  may 
use  the  expression,  in  proportion  to  the  expansion 
of  his  view  ;  and  they  begin  to  embrace  the  full 
extent  and  grandeur  of  those  ancient  events  to 
which  I  have  alluded,  ^when  he  climbs  the  more 
elevated  chains  whose  base  is  skirted  by  these 
first  hills,  or  when,  by  following  the  beds  of  the 
descending  torrents,  he  penetrates  into  their  inte- 
rior structure,  which  is  thus  laid  open  to  his  inspec- 
tion. 

§   4.  First  Proofs  of  Revolutions  on  the  Surface  of 
the  Globe* 

The  lowest  and  most  level  parts  of  the  earth, 
when  penetrated  to  a  very  great  depth,  exhibit 
nothing  but  horizontal  strata  composed  of  various 
substances,  and  containing  almost  all  of  them  in- 
numerable marine  productions.  Similar  strata, 

*  Note  A,  at  the  end  of  the  Essay.      <  jj&i 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  31 

with  the  same  kind  of  productions,  compose  the  hills 
even  to  a  greatheight.  Sometimes  the  shells  are  so 
numerous  as  to  constitute  the  entire  body  of  the 
stratum.  They  are  almost  everywhere  in  such  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation,  that  even  the  small- 
est of  them  retain  their  most  delicate  parts,  their 
sharpest  ridges,  and  their  finest  and  tenderest  pro- 
cesses. They  are  found  in  elevations  far  above 
the  level  of  every  part  of  the  ocean,  and  in  places 
to  which  the  sea  could  not  be  conveyed  by  any 
existing  cause.  They  are  not  only  enclosed  in 
loose  sand,  but  are  often  incrusted  and  penetra- 
ted on  all  sides  by  the  hardest  stones.  Every 
part  of  the  earth,  every  hemisphere,  every  conti- 
nent, every  island  of  any  size,  exhibits  the  same 
phenomenon.  We  are  therefore  forcibly  led  to 
believe,  not  only  that  the  sea  has  at  one  period  or 
another  covered  all  our  plains,  but  that  it  must  have 
remained  there  for  a  long  time,  and  in  a  state  of 
tranquillity ;  which  circumstance  was  necessary  for 
the  formation  of  deposits  so  extensive,  so  thick, 
in  part  so  solid,  and  containing  exuviae  so  perfect- 
ly preserved. 

The  time  is  past  for  ignorance  to  assert  that 
these  remains  of  organized  bodies  are  mere  lusus 
natum, — productions  generated  in  the  womb  of 
the  earth  by  its  own  creative  powers.  A  nice  and 
scrupulous  comparison  of  their  forms,  of  their  con- 
texture, and  frequently  even  of  their  composition, 
cannot  detect  the  slightest  difference  between 


32  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

these  shells  and  the  shells  which  still  inhabit  the  sea. 
They  have  therefore  once  lived  in  the  sea,  and  been 
deposited  by  it;  the  sea  consequently  must  haverest- 
ed  in  the  places  where  the  deposition  has  taken 
place.  Hence  it  is  evident  the  basin  or  reservoir 
containing  the  sea  has  undergone  some  change  at 
least,  either  in  extent,  or  in  situation,  or  in  both. 
Such  is  the  result  of  the  very  first  search,  and  of 
the  most  superficial  examination. 

The  traces  of  revolutions  become  still  more  ap- 
parent and  decisive  when  we  ascend  a  little  higher, 
and  approach  nearer  to  the  foot  of  the  great  chains 
of  mountains.  There  are  still  found  many  beds  of 
shells;  some  of  these  are  even  larger  and  more 
solid ;  the  shells  are  quite  as  numerous  and  as  en- 
tirely preserved  ;  but  they  are  not  of  the  same  spe- 
cies with  those  which  were  found  in  the  less  eleva- 
ted regions.  The  strata  which  contain  them  are 
not  so  generally  horizontal ;  they  have  various  de- 
grees of  inclination,  and  are  sometimes  situated 
vertically.  While  in  the  plains  and  low  hills  it  was 
necessary  to  dig  deep  in  order  to  detect  the  suc- 
cession of  the  strata,  here  we  perceive  them  by 
means  of  the  valleys  which  time  or  violence  has  pro- 
duced, and  which  disclose  their  edges  to  the  eye 
of  the  observer.  At  the  bottom  of  these  declivi- 
ties, huge  masses  of  their  debris  are  collected,  and 
form  round  hills,  the  height  of  which  is  augmented 
by  the  operation  of  every  thaw  and  of  every  storm. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  33 

These  inclined  or  vertical  strata,  which  form  the 
ridges  of  the  secondary  mountains,  do  not  rest  on 
the  horizontal  strata  of  the  hills  which  are  situat- 
ed at  their  base,  and  serve  as  their  first  steps ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  are  situated  underneath 
them.  The  latter  are  placed  upon  the  declivities 
of  the  former.  When  we  dig  through  the  horizon- 
tal strata  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  inclined 
strata,  the  inclined  strata  are  invariably  found  be- 
low. Nay  sometimes,  when  the  inclined  strata  are 
not  too  much  elevated,  their  summit  is  surmounted 
by  horizontal  strata.  The  inclined  strata  are  there- 
fore more  ancient  than  the  horizontal  strata.  And 
as  they  must  necessarily  have  been  formed  in  a  hori- 
zontal position,  they  have  been  subsequently  shift- 
ed into  their  inclined  or  vertical  position,  and 
that  too  before  the  horizontal  strata  were  placed 

above  them. 

• 

Thus  the  sea,  previous  to  the  formation  of  the 
horizontal  strata,  had  formed  others,  which,  by 
some  means,  have  been  broken,  lifted  up,  and  over- 
turned in  a  thousand  ways.  There  had  therefore 
been  also  at  least  one  change  in  the  basin  of  that 
sea  which  preceded  ours ;  it  had  also  experienced 
at  least  one  revolution ;  and  as  several  of  these  in- 
clined strata  which  it  had  formed  first,  are  elevated 
above  the  level  of  the  horizontal  strata  which  have 
succeeded  and  which  surround  them,  this  revolu- 
tion, while  it  gave  them  their  present  inclination, 
had  also  caused  them  to  project  above  the  level  of 


34  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  sea,  so  as  to  form  islands,  or  at  least  rocks  and 
inequalities;  and  this  must  have  happened  whe- 
ther one  of  their  edges  was  lifted  up  above  the  water, 
or  the  depression  of  the  opposite  edge  caused  the 
water  to  subside.  This  is  the  second  result,  not 
less  obvious,  nor  less  clearly  demonstrated,  than 
the  first,  to  every  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  of 
studying  carefully  the  remains  by  which  it  is  illus- 
trated and  proved. 

§  5.  Proofs  that  such  Revolutions  have  been  numerous. 

If  we  institute  a  more  detailed  comparison  be- 
tween the  various  strata  and  those  remains  of  ani- 
mals which  they  contain,  we  shall  soon  discover 
still  more  numerous  differences  among  them,  indi- 
cating a  proportional  number  of  changes  in  their 
condition.  The  sea  has  not  always  deposited 
stony  substances  of  the  same  kind.  It  has  observed 
a  regular  succession  as  to  the  nature  of  its  deposits ; 
the  more  ancient  the  strata  are,  so  much  the  more 
uniform  and  extensive  are  they ;  and  the  more  re- 
cent they  are,  the  more  limited  are  they,  and  the 
more  variation  is  observed  in  them  at  small  dis- 
tances. Thus  the  great  catastrophes  which  have 
produced  revolutions  in  the  basin  of  the  sea,  were 
preceded,  accompanied,  and  followed  by  changes 
in  the  nature  of  the  fluid  and  of  the  substances 
which  it  held  in  solution ;  and  when  the  surface  of 
the  seas  came  to  be  divided  by  islands  and  project- 


THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH.  35 

ing  ridges,  different  changes  took  place  in  everj 
separate  basin. 

Amidst  these  changes  of  the  general  fluid,  it 
must  have  been  almost  impossible  for  the  same 
kind  of  animals  to  continue  to  live : — nor  did  they 
do  so  in  fact.  Their  species,  and  even  their  ge- 
nera, change  with  the  strata;  and  although  the 
same  species  occasionally  recur  at  small  distances, 
it  is  generally  the  case  that  the  shells  of  the  an- 
cient strata  have  forms  peculiar  to  themselves ;  that 
they  gradually  disappear,  till  they  are  not  to  be 
seen  at  all  in  the  recent  strata,  still  less  in  the  ex- 
isting seas,  in  which,  indeed,  we  never  discover 
their  corresponding  species,  and  where  several, 
even  of  their  genera,  are  not  to  be  found ;  that,  on 
the  contrary,  the  shells  of  the  recent  strata  resem- 
ble, as  it  respects  the  genus,  those  which  still  ex- 
ist in  the  sea;  and  that  in  the  last-formed  and 
loosest  of  these  strata,  there  are  some  species 
which  the  eye  of  the  most  expert  naturalists  can- 
not distinguish  from  those  which  at  present  inhabit 
the  ocean. 

In  animal  nature,  therefore,  there  has  been  a 
succession  of  changes  corresponding  to  those  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  chemical  nature  of  the 
fluid ;  and  when  the  sea  last  receded  from  our  con- 
tinent, its  inhabitants  were  not  very  different  from 
those  which  it  still  continues  to  support. 


36  THEORY    OF  THE  EARTH. 

Finally,  if  we  examine  with  greater  care  these 
remains  of  organized  bodies,  we  shall  discover,  in 
the  midst  even  of  the  most  ancient  secondary  stra- 
ta, other  strata  that  are  crowded  with  animal  or  ve- 
getable productions,  which  belong  to  the  land  and 
to  fresh  water;  and  amongst  the  most  recent  stra- 
ta, that  is,  the  strata  which  are  nearest  the  surface, 
there  are  some  of  them  in  which  land  animals  are 
buried  under  heaps  of  marine  productions.  Thus 
the  various  catastrophes  of  our  planet  have  not 
only  caused  the  different  parts  of  our  continent  to 
rise  by  degrees  from  the  basin  of  the  sea,  but  it  has 
also  frequently  happened,  that  lands  which  had 
been  laid  dry  have  been  again  covered  by  the  water, 
in  consequence  either  of  these  lands  sinking  down 
below  the  level  of  the  sea,  or  of  the  sea  being  raised 
above  the  level  of  the  lands.  The  particular  por- 
tions of  the  earth  also  which  the  sea  has  abandoned 
by  its  last  retreat,  had  been  laid  dry  once  before, 
and  had  at  that  time  produced  quadrupeds,  birds, 
plants,  and  all  kinds  of  terrestrial  productions ;  it 
had  then  been  inundated  by  the  sea,  which  has 
since  retired  from  it,  and  left  it  to  be  occupied  by 
its  own  proper  inhabitants. 

The  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  shelly  strata  have  not,  therefore, 
been  entirely  owing  to  a  gradual  and  general  re- 
treat of  the  waters,  but  to  successive  irruptions  and 
retreats,  the  final  result  of  which,  however,  has 
been  an  universal  depression  of  the  level  of  the  sea. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  37 


§  6.  Proofs  that  the  Revolutions  have  been  sudden. 

These  repeated  irruptions  and  retreats  of  the 
sea  have  neither  been  slow  nor  gradual ;  most  ot 
the  catastrophes  which  have  occasioned  them  have 
been  sudden  ;  and  this  is  easily  proved,  especially 
with  regard  to  the  last  of  them,  the  traces  of  which 
are  most  conspicuous.  In  the  northern  regions  it 
has  left  the  carcasses  of  some  large  quadrupeds 
which  the  ice  had  arrested,  and  which  are  pre- 
served even  to  the  present  day  with  their  skin, 
their  hair,  and  their  flesh.  If  they  had  not  been 
frozen  as  soon  as  killed  they  must  quickly  have 
been  decomposed  by  putrefaction.  But  this  eter- 
nal frost  could  not  have  taken  possession  of  the  re- 
gions which  these  animals  inhabited  except  by  the 
same  cause  which  destroyed  them;*  this  cause, 
therefore,  must  have  been  as  sudden  as  its  effect. 
The  breaking  to  pieces  and  overturnings  of  the 
strata,  which  happened  in  former  catastrophes, 
*how  plainly  enough  that  they  were  sudden  and 
v  iolent  like  the  last ;  and  the  heaps  of  debris  and 
rounded  pebbles  which  are  found  in  various  places 

*  The  two  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  this  kind,  and  which 
must  for  ever  banish  all  idea  of  a  slow  and  gradual  revolution,  are  the 
rhinoceros,  discovered  in  1771  in  the  banks  of  the  Filhoui,  and  the  ele- 
phant recently  found  by  M.  Adams  near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena.  This 
last  retained  its  flesh  and  skin,  on  Avhich  was  hair  of  two  kinds  ;  one 
short,  fine,  and  crisped,  resembling  wool,  and  the  other  like  long  brig- 
ties.  The  flesh  was  still  in  such  high  preservation,  that  it  was  eaten 
by  dogs. 


33  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

among  the  solid  strata,  demonstrate  the  vast  tbrce 
of  the  motions  excited  in  the  mass  of  waters  by 
these  overturnings.  Life,  therefore,  has  been  often 
disturbed  on  this  earth  by  terrible  events — calami- 
ties which,  at  their  commencement,  have  perhaps 
moved  and  overturned  to  a  great  depth  the  entire 
outer  crust  of  the  globe,  but  which,  since  these 
first  commotions,  have  uniformly  acted  at  a  less 
depth  and  less  generally.  Numberless  living  be- 
ings have  been  the  victims  of  these  catastrophes ; 
some  have  been  destroyed  by  sudden  inundations, 
others  have  been  laid  dry  in  consequence  of  the 
bottom  of  the  seas  being  instantaneously  elevated. 
Their  races  even  have  become  extinct,  and  have 
left  no  memorial  of  them  except  some  small  frag- 
ment which  the  naturalist  can  scarcely  recognise. 

Such  are  the  conclusions  which  necessarily  re- 
sult from  the  objects  that  we  meet  with  at  every 
step  of  our  inquiry,  and  which  we  can  always  ve- 
rify by  examples  drawn  from  almost  every  country. 
Every  part  of  the  globe  bears  the  impress  of  these 
great  and  terrible  events  so  distinctly,  that  they 
must  be  visible  to  all  who  are  qualified  to  read 
their  history  in  the  remains  which  they  have  left 
behind. 

But  what  is  still  more  astonishing  and  not  less 
certain,  there  have  not  been  always  living  crea- 
tures on  the^earth,  and  it  is  easy  for  the  observer 


• 

THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  39 

to  discover  the  period  at  which  animal  produc- 
tions began  to  be  deposited. 

§  7.  Proofs  of  the  Occurrence  of  Revolutions  before  the 
Existence  of  Living  Beings. 

As  we  ascend  to  higher  points  of  elevation,  and 
advance  towards  the  lofty  summits  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  remains  of  marine  animals,  that  multi- 
tude of  shells  we  have  spoken  of,  begin  very  soon 
to  grow  rare,  and  at  length  disappear  altogether. 
We  arrive  at  strata  of  a  different  nature,  which 
contain  no  vestige  at  all  of  living  creatures.  Ne- 
vertheless their  crystallization,  and  even  the  na- 
ture of  their  strata,  show  that  they  also  have  been 
formed  in  a  fluid ;  their  inclined  position  and  their 
slopes  show  that  they  also  have  been  moved  and 
overturned;  the  oblique  manner  in  which  they 
sink  under  the  shelly  strata  shows  that  they  have 
been  formed  before  these ;  and  the  height  to  which 
their  bare  and  rugged  tops  are  elevated  above  all 
the  shelly  strata,  shows  that  their  summits  have 
never  again  been  covered  by  the  sea  since  they 
were  raised  up  out  of  its  bosom. 

Such  are  those  primitive  or  primordial  moun- 
tains which  traverse  our  continents  in  various  di- 
rections, rising  above  the  clouds,  separating  the 
basins  of  the  rivers  from  one  another,  serving,  by 
means  of  their  eternal  snows,  as  reservoirs  for  feed- 
ing the  springs,  and  forming  in  some  measure  the 


40  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

skeleton,  or,  as  it  were,  the  rough  frame-work  of 
the  earth. 

The  sharp  peaks  and  rugged  indentations  which 
mark  their  summits,  and  strike  the  eye  at  a  great 
distance,  are  so  many  proofs  of  the  violent  manner 
in  which  they  have  been  elevated.  Their  appear- 
ance in  this  respect  is  very  different  from  that  of 
the  rounded  mountains  and  the  hills  with  flat  sur- 
faces, whose  recently  formed  masses  have  always 
remained  in  the  situation  in  which  they  were 

quietly  deposited  by  the  sea  which  last  covered 

TL 

them. 

These  proofs  become  more  obvious  as  we  ap- 
proach. The  valleys  have  no  longer  those  gently 
sloping  sides,  or  those  alternately  salient  and  re- 
entrant angles  opposite  to  one  another,  which 
seem  to  indicate  the  beds  of  ancient  streams.  They 
widen  and  contract  without  any  general  rule ;  their 
waters  sometimes  expand  into  lakes,  and  sometimes 
descend  in  torrents;  and  here  and  there  the 
rocks,  suddenly  approaching  from  each  side,  form 
transverse  dikes,  over  which  the  waters  fall  in  ca- 
taracts. The  shattered  strata  of  these  valleys  ex- 
pose their  edges  on  one  side,  and  present  on  the 
other  side  large  portions  of  their  surface  lying  ob- 
liquely; they  do  not  correspond  in  height,  but 
those  which  on  one  side  form  the  summit  of  the  de- 
clivity, often  dip  so  deep  on  the  other  as  to  be  alto- 
gether concealed. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  41 

. 

Yet,  amidst  all  this  confusion,  some  naturalists 
have  thought  that  they  perceived  a  certain  degree 
of  order  prevailing,  and  that  among  these  immense 
beds  of  rocks,  broken  and  overturned  though  they 
be,  a  regular  succession  is  observed,  which  is  near- 
ly the  same  in  all  the  different  chains  of  mountains. 
According  to  them,  the  granite,  which  surmounts 
every  other  rock,  also  dips  under  every  other  rock ; 
and  is  the  most  ancient  of  any  that  has  yet  been  dis- 
covered in  the  place  assigned  it  by  nature.  The 
central  ridges  of  most  of  the  mountain  chains  are 
composed  of  it;  slaty  rocks,  such  as  clay  slate, 
granular  quartz,  (gres^)  and  mica  slate,  rest  upon 
its  sides  and  .  form  lateral  chains ;  granular,  folia- 
ted limestone,  or  marble,  and  other  calcarious 
rocks  that  do  not  contain  shells,  rest  upon  the  slate, 
forming  the  exterior  ranges,  and  are  the  last  forma- 
tions by  which  this  ancient  uninhabited  sea  seems 
to  have  prepared  itself  for  the  production  of  its 
beds  of  shells.*! 

•  O-Vi--;,' '•"''' 

On  all  occasions,  even  in  districts  that  lie  at  a 
distance  from  the  great  mountain  chains,  where 
the  more  recent  strata  have  been  digged  through, 
and  the  external  covering  of  the  earth  penetrated 
to  a  considerable  depth,  nearly  the  same  order  of 
stratification  has  been  found  as  that  already  de- 
scribed. The  crystallized  marbles  never  cover 


*  See  Pallas,  in  his  Memoir  on  tlie  Formation  of  Mountains?, 
t  Note  B. 

6 


42  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  shelly  strata;  the  granite  in  mass  never  rests 
upon  the  crystallized  marble,  except  in  a  few 
places  where  it  seems  to  have  been  formed  of 
granites  of  newer  epochs.  In  one  word,  the  fore- 
going arrangement  appears  to  be  general,  and 
must  therefore  depend  upon  general  causes,  which 
have  on  all  occasions  exerted  the  same  influence 
from  one  extremity  of  the  earth  to  the  other.* 

Hence,  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  that  the  waters 
of  the  sea  have  formerly,  and  for  a  long  time,  co- 
vered those  masses  of  matter  which  now  consti- 
tute our  highest  mountains;  and  farther,  that  these 
waters,  during  a  longtime,  did  not  support  any 
living  bodies.  Thus,  it  has  not  been  only  since 
the  commencement  of  animal  life  that  these  nume- 
rous changes  and  revolutions  have  taken  place  in 
the  constitution  of  the  external  covering  of  our 
globe:  For  the  masses  formed  previous  to  that 
event  have  suffered  changes,  as  well  as  those  wiiich 
have  been  formed  since;  they  have  also  suffered 
violent  changes  in  their  positions,  and  a  part  of 
these  assuredly  took  place  while  they  existed  alone, 
and  before  they  were  covered  over  by  the  shelly 
masses.  The  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  overturnings, 
the  disruptions,  and  the  fissures  which  are  obser- 
vable in  their  strata,  as  well  as  in  those  of  more 
recent  formation,  which  are  there  even  in  greater 
number  arid  better  denned. 

*  NoteC. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  43 

But  these  primitive  masses  have  also  suffered 
other  revolutions,  posterior  to  the  formation  of  the 
secondary  strata,  and  have  perhaps  given  rise  to, 
or  at  least  have  partaken  of,  some  portion  of  the 
revolutions  and  changes  which  these  latter  strata 
have  experienced.  There  are  actually  considera- 
ble portions  of  the  primitive  strata  uncovered,  al- 
though placed  in  lower  situations  than  many  of 
the  secondary  strata;  and  we  cannot  conceive  how 
it  should  have  so  happened,  unless  the  primitive 
strata,  in  these  places,  had  forced  themselves  into 
view,  after  the  formation  of  those  which  are  se- 
condary. In  some  countries,  we  find  numerous  and 
prodigiously  large  blocks  of  primitive  substances 
scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  secondary  strata, 
and  separated  by  deep  valleys  from  the  peaks  or 
ridges  whence  these  blocks  must  have  been  deriv- 
ed. It  is  necessary,  therefore,  either  that  these 
blocks  must  have  been  thrown  into  those  situations 
by  means  of  eruptions,  or  that  the  valleys,  which 
otherwise  must  have  stopped  their  course,  did  not 
exist  at  the  time  of  their  being  transported  to  their 
present  sites.*f 

Thus  we  have  a  collection  of  facts,  a  series  of 
epochs  anterior  to  the  present  time,  and  of  which 
the  successive  steps  may  be  ascertained  with  per- 


*  The  scientific  journeys  of  Saussure  and  Deluc  give  a  prodigious 
number  of  instances  of  this  nature. 
•f  Note  D. 


44  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH, 

feet  certainty,  although  the  periods  which  inter- 
vened cannot  be  determined  with  any  degree  of 
precision.  These  epochs  form  so  many  fixed 
points,  answering  as  rules  for  directing  our  in- 
quiries respecting  thip  ancient  chronology  of  the 
earth. 

§  8.  Examination  of  the  Causes  which  act  at  present  on 
the  Surface  of  our  Globe. 

We  now  propose  to  examine  those  changes 
which  still  take  place  on  our  globe,  investigating 
the  causes  which  continue  to  operate  on  its  sur- 
face, and  endeavouring  to  determine  the  extent 
of  those  effects  which  they  are  capable  of  pro- 
ducing. This  portion  of  the  history  of  the  earth 
is  so  much  the  more  important,  as  it  has  been  long 
considered  possible  to  explain  the  more  ancient 
revolutions  on  its  surface  by  means  of  these  still 
existing  causes;  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  found 
easy  to  explain  past  events  in  political  history,  by 
an  acquaintance  with  the  passions  and  intrigues  of 
the  present  day.  But  we  shall  presently  see  that 
unfortunately  this  is  not  the  case  in  physical  histo- 
ry; the  thread  of  operation  is  here  broken,  the 
march  of  nature  is  changed,  and  none  of  the 
agents  that  she  now  employs  were  sufficient  for  the 
production  of  her  ancient  works. 

There  still  exist,  however,  four  causes  in  full  ac- 
tivity, which  contribute  to  make  alterations  in  the 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 


45 


surface  of  our  earth.  These  are  rains  and  thaws, 
which  waste  down  the  steep  mountains,  and  occa- 
sion their  fragments  to  collect  at  their  bottoms; 
streams  of  water,  which  sweep  away  these  frag- 
ments, and  afterwards  deposit  them  in  places 
where  their  current  is  abated;  the  sea  which  un- 
dermines the  foundations  of  elevated  coasts,  form- 
ing steep  cliffs  in  their  places,  and  which  throws 
up  hillocks  of  sand  upon  flat  coasts;  and,  finally, 
volcanoes,  which  pierce  through  the  most  solid 
strata  from  below,  and  either  elevate  or  scatter 
abroad  the  vast  quantity  of  matter  which  they 
eject. 

§  9.  Of  SUps,  or  Falling  Down  of  the  Materials  of 
Mountains. 

In  every  place  where  broken  strata  present  their 
edges  to  the  day  in  abrupt  crags,  fragments  of 
their  materials  fall  down  every  spring,  and  after 
every  storm;  these  become  rounded  by  rolling  up- 
on each  other,  and  their  collected  heaps  assume  a 
determinate  inclination  or  external  form,  regulated 
by  the  laws  of  cohesion,  forming  at  the  bottom  of 
the  crag,  whence  they  have  fallen,  taluses  of  great- 
er or  lesser  elevation,  in  proportion  to  the  quanti- 
ty of  the  fragments.  These  taluses  constitute  the 
sides  of  the  valleys  in  all  elevated  mountainous 
regions,  and  are  covered  over  by  abundant  vege- 
tation, whenever  these  fallings-down  of  materials 
from  higher  mountains  become  less  frequent;  but 


46  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

their  want  of  solidity  subjects  them  also  to  slips,  in 
consequence  of  being  undermined  by  the  waters 
of  rivulets.  On  these  occasions,  towns  and  rich 
populous  districts  are  sometimes  buried  under  the 
ruins  of  a  mountain;  the  courses  of  rivers  are 
stopped  up,  and  lakes  are  formed  in  places  which 
were  before  the  abodes  of  fertility  and  cheerful- 
ness. Fortunately  such  great  slips  occur  but  sel- 
dom; and  the  principal  use  of  these  hills,  compos- 
ed of  fragments  and  ruins  of  the  high  mountains,  is 
to  furnish  materials  for  the  ravages  of  the  torrents 
to  operate  upon.* 

§  10.  Of  Alluvial  Formations.^ 

. 

The  rains  which  fall  upon  the  ridges  and  sum- 
mits of  the  mountains,  the  vapours  which  are  con- 
densed there,  and  the  snow  which  is  melted,  de- 
scend by  an  infinite  number  of  rills  along  their 
slopes,  carrying  off  some  portions  of  the  materials 
of  which  these  ridges  and  summits  are  compos- 
ed, and  marking  their  courses  by  numerous  gut- 
ters. In  their  progress  downwards,  these  small 
rills  soon  unite  in  the  deeper  furrows  with  which 
the  surface  of  all  mountains  is  ploughed  up,  run  off 
through  the  deep  valleys  which  intersect  the  bot- 
toms of  the  mountains,  and  at  length  form  the 
streams  and  rivers  which  restore  to  the  sea  the 
waters  that  it  had  formerly  supplied  to  the  atmos- 
phere. 

•/•  *NoteE.  fNotcF. 


THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH.  47 

When  the  snow  melts,  or  when  a  storm  takes 
place,  these  mountain  torrents  become  suddenly 
swelled,  and  rush  down  the  declivities  with  a  vio- 
lence and  rapidity  proportioned  to  their  steepness : 
They  dash  against  the  feet  of  these  taluses  of  fallen 
fragments  which  form  the  sides  of  all  the  elevated 
valleys,  carrying  along  with  them  the  rounded  frag- 
ments of  which  they  are  composed,  which  become 
smoothed  and  still  farther  polished  by  rubbing  on 
each  other.  But,  in  proportion  as  the  swollen 
torrents  reach  the  more  level  valleys,  and  the  force 
of  their  current  is  diminished,  or  when  they  arrive 
at  more  expanded  basins  which  allow  their  waters 
to  spread  out,  they  then  throw  out  on  their  banks 
the  largest  of  these  stones  which  they  had  rolled 
down :  The  smaller  fragments  are  deposited  still 
lower ;  and,  in  general,  nothing  reaches  the  great 
canal  of  the  river  except  the  minutest  fragments,  or 
the  impalpable  particles,  which  afterwards  sub- 
side to  form  mud.  It  often  happens  also,  before 
these  streams  unite  to  form  great  rivers,  that  they 
have  to  pass  through  large  and  deep  lakes,  where 
they  deposit  the  mud  brought  down  from  the 
mountains,  and  whence  their  waters  flow  out  quite 
limpid. 

The  rivers  in  lower  levels,  and  all  the  streams 
which  take  their  rise  in  the  lower  mountains  or  hills, 
produce  effects  on  the  grounds  through  which  they 
flow,  more  or  less  analogous  to  those  of  the  tor- 
rents from  the  higher  mountains.  When  swelled 


48  THEORY   OP  THE  EARTH. 

by  great  rains,  they  undermine  the  bottoms  of 
the  earthy  or  sandy  hills  which  lie  in  their  way, 
and  carry  their  fragments  to  be  deposited  on  the 
lower  grounds  which  they  inundate,  and  which  are 
somewhat  raised  in  height  by  each  successive  in- 
undation. Finally,  when  these  rivers  reach  the 
great  lakes,  or  the  sea,  and  when  of  course  that 
rapid  motion  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  keep 
the  particles  of  mud  in  suspension  has  wholly 
ceased,  these  particles  are  deposited  at  each  side 
of  their  mouths,  where  they  form  low  grounds,  by 
which  the  coasts  or  banks  of  the  river  are  gradual- 
ly lengthened  out  into  the  sea  or  lake.  And  if 
these  new  coasts  are  so  situated  that  the  sea  also 
throws  up  sand  to  contribute  towards  their  in- 
crease, provinces,  and  even  entire  kingdoms,  are 
thus  as  it  were  created,  which  usually  become  the 
richest  and  most  fertile  regions,  if  their  rulers  per- 
mit human  industry  to  exert  itself  in  peace. 

§11.  Of  the  Formation  of  Downs* 

The  effects  produced  by  the  sea  alone,  without 
the  aid  of  rivers,  are  far  less  beneficial.  When 
the  sea  coast  is  low,  and  the  bottom  consists  of 
sand,  the  waves  push  this  sand  towards  the  shore, 
where,  at  every  reflux  of  the  tide,  it  becomes  par- 
tially dried ;  and  the  winds,  which  almost  always 
blow  from  the  sea,  drift  up  some  portion  of  it  upon 

*  Note  G, 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  49 

the  beach.  By  Jhis  means,  downs,  or  ranges  of  low 
sand-hills,  are  formed  along  the  coast.  These,  if 
not  fixed  by  the  growth  of  suitable  plants,  either 
disseminated  by  nature,  or  propagated  by  human  in- 
dustry, would  be  gradually,  but  certainly,  carried 
towards  the  interior,  covering  up  the  fertile  plains 
with  their  sterile  particles,  and  rendering  them 
unfit  for  the  habitation  of  mankind;  because  the 
same  winds  which  carried  the  loose  dry  sand  from 
the  shore  to  form  the  downs,  would  necessarily 
continue  to  drift  that  which  is  at  the  summit  farther 
towards  the  land. 

§  12.  Of  the  Formation  of  Cliffs,  or  steep  Shores. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  original  coast  hap- 
pens to  be  high,  so  that  the  sea  is  unable  to  cast 
up  any  thing  upon  it,  a  gradual,  but  destructive 
operation  is  carried  on  in  a  different  way.  The  in- 
cessant agitation  of  the  waves  wears  it  away  at  the 
bottom,  and  at  length  succeeds  in  undermining  it, 
causing  the  upper  materials  to  slide  and  tumble 
down,  and  converting  the  whole  elevation  into 
steep  sloping  bluffs  or  cliffs.  In  the  progress  of  this 
change,  the  more  elevated  materials  which  tumble 
down  into  the  sea,  have  their  softer  parts  washed 
out  and  carried  away  by  the  waves;  while  the 
harder  parts,  continually  rolled  about  in  the  agi- 
tated water,  form  vast  collections  of  rounded  stones 
and  pebbles*  and  of  sand  of  various  degrees  of  fine- 
ness, which  at  length  accumulate  into  sloping  banks 

7 


50  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

or  flat  beaches,  and  protect  the,  bottoms  of  the 
cliffs  against  farther  depredations. 

Such  are  the  ordinary  actions  of  water  upon  the 
solid  land,  which  almost  entirely  consist  in  reducing 
it  to  lower  levels,  but  not  indefinitely.  The  frag- 
ments of  the  great  mountain  ridges  are  carried 
down  into  the  valleys,  while  their  finer  particles  and 
those  of  the  lower  hills  and  plains  are  floated  to  the 
sea.  Alluvial  depositions  extend  the  coast  at  the 
expense  of  the  interior  hills,  which  last  effect  is 
most  limited  in  its  extent  by  means  of  vegetation. 
All  these  changes  necessarily  suppose  the  previous 
existence  of  mountains,  valleys,  and  plains,  and 
consequently  the  same  causes  could  not  have 
given  rise  to  these  inequalities  on  the  surface  of 
our  globe. 

The  formation  of  downs  is  the  most  limited  of 
all  these  phenomena,  both  in  regard  to  height  and 
horizontal  extent,  and  has  no  manner  of  relation 
whatever  to  those  enormous  masses^  the  origin 
of  which  forms  the  peculiar  object  of  geological 
research.* 

§  13.  Of  Depositions  formed  in  Water. 

Although  we  cannot  obtain  a  precise  knowledge 
of  the  actions  exerted  by  water  within  its  own  bo- 
som, still  it  may  be  ascertained  in  a  certain  degree. 

*  Note  EL 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  51 

Lakes,  low  meadows,  marshes,  and  sea-ports,  into 
which  rivulets  discharge  their  waters,  more  espe- 
cially when  these  descend  from  near  and  steep 
hills,  are  continually  receiving  depositions  of  mud, 
which  would  at  length  fill  them  up  entirely,  if  they 
were  not  carefully  cleaned  out.  The  sea  is  con- 
stantly accumulating  quantities  of  sand  and  slime 
into  its  bays  and  harbours,  or  wherever  its  waters 
happen  to  become  more  quiet  than  ordinary.  The 
currents  also  occasioned  by  the  tides,  are  con- 
tinually washing  large  quantities  of  sand  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  which  they  collect  together  and 
heap  up  on  various  parts  of  the  coast,  forming 
banks  and  flat  shallows. 

§  14.  Of  Stalactites. 

Certain  waters,  after  dissolving  calcarious  sub- 
stances by  means  of  the  superabundant  carbonic 
acid  with  which  they  are  impregnated,  allow  these 
substances  to  crystallize,  in  consequence  of  the 
escape  of  the  acid,  and  in  this  way  form  stalactites 
and  other  concretions.  There  are  some  strata, 
confusedly  crystallized  in  fresh  water,  which  are 
sufficiently  extensive  to  be  compared  with  other 
strata  that  have  been  left  by  the  ancient  sea. 

§  15.  Of  Lithophites. 

In  the  torrid  zone,  where  lithophites  of  many 
kinds  abound,  and  are  propagated  with  great  ra- 


52  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTlf. 

pidity,  (heir  stony  tree-like  fabrics  are  intertwined 
and  accumulated  into  the  form  of  rocks  and  reefs, 
and,  rising  even  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  shut 
up  the  entrance  of  harbours,  and  lay  frightful  snares 
for  navigators.  The  sea,  throwing  up  sand  and 
mud  on  the  tops  of  these  rocky  shelves,  sometimes 
raises  them  above  its  own  proper  level,  and  forms 
islands  of  them,  which  are  soon  covered  with  a 
rich  vegetation. 

§  16.  Of  Incrustations. 

It  is  also  possible  that  the  animals  inhabiting 
shells  may  leave  their  stony  coverings  when  they 
die  in  some  particular  places ;  and  that  these,  ce- 
mented together  by  slime  of  greater  or  less  con- 
sistence, or  by  some  other  means,  may  form  exten- 
sive banks  of  shells.  But  we  have  no  evidence 
that  the  sea  has  now  the  power  of  agglutinating 
these  shells  by  such  a  compact  paste,  or  indurated 
cement,  as  that  found  in  marbles  and  calcarious 
sand-stones,  or  even  in  the  coarse  limestone  strata 
in  which  shells  are  found  enveloped.  Still  less  do 
we  now  find  the  sea  making  any  depositions  at  all 
of  the  more  solid  and  silicious  strata  which  have 
preceded  the  formation  of  the  strata  containing 
shells.  In  short,  all  these  causes  would  not, 
though  combined,  form  a  single  stratum  of  any 
kind,  nor  produce  the  smallest  hillock,  nor  alter  in 
any  perceptible  degree  the  ordinary  level  of  the 
oeQan. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  53- 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  sea  is  subject  to  a 
continual  diminution  in  its  level,  and  proofs  of  this 
are  said  to  have  been  discovered  in  some  parts  of 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  cause  of  these  appearances,  we  certainly  know 
that  nothing  of  the  kind  has  been  observed  upon 
our  coasts ;  and,  consequently,  that  there  has  been 
no  general  lowering  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean. 
The  most  ancient  sea-ports  still  have  their  quays 
and  other  erections  at  the  same  height  above  the 
level  of  the  sea  as  at  their  first  construction. 

Certain  general  movements  have  been  supposed 
in  the  sea  from  east  to  west,  or  in  other  directions ; 
but  no  where  has  any  person  been  able  to  ascertain 
their  effects  with  the  least  degree  of  precision. 

§  17.  Of  Volcanoes. 

The  operation  of  volcanoes  is  still  more  limited 
and  local  than  that  of  any  of  the  agents  which  have 
yet  been  mentioned.  Although  we  have  no  idea 
of  the  means  employed  by  nature  for  feeding  these 
enormous  fires  from  such  vast  depths,  we  can  judge 
decidedly,  by  their  effects,  of  the  changes  which 
they  were  capable  of  producing  upon  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  When  a  volcano  announces  itself 
after  some  shocks  of  an  earthquake,  it  forms  for  it- 
self an  opening.  Stones  and  ashes  are  thrown  to 
a  great  distance,  and  lava  is  vomited  forth.  The 
more  fluid  part  of  the  lava  runs  in  long  streams, 


54  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

while  the  less  fluid  portion  stops  at  the  edge  of 
the  opening,  raises  it  all  round,  and  forms  a  cone 
terminated  by  a  crater.  Thus  volcanoes  accumu- 
late substances  on  the  surface  that  were  formerly 
buried  deep  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  after  having 
changed  or  modified  their  nature  or  appearances, 
and  raise  them  into  mountains.  By  these  means, 
they  have  formerly  covered  some  parts  of  the  con- 
tinents, and  have  suddenly  produced  mountains  in 
the  middle  of  the  sea.  But  these  mountains  and 
islands  have  always  been  composed  of  lava,  and 
the  whole  of  their  materials  have  undergone  the 
action  of  fire.  Volcanoes  have  never  raised  up 
nor  overturned  the  strata  through  which  their  aper- 
tures pass,  and  have  in  no  degree  contributed  to 
the  elevation  of  the  great  mountains  which  are  not 
volcanic. 

Thus  we  shall  seek  in  vain  among  the  various 
forces  which  still  operate  on  the  surface  of  our 
earth,  for  causes  competent  to  the  production  of 
those  revolutions  and  catastrophes  of  which  its  ex- 
ternal crust  exhibits  so  many  traces :  And  if  we 
have  recourse  to  the  constant  external  causes  with 
which  we  have  been  hitherto  acquainted,  we  shall 
have  no  greater  success. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  33 

§  18.  Of  Astronomical  Causes  of  the  Revolutions  on 
the  Surface  of  the  Earth. 

The  pole  of  the  earth  moves  in  a  circle  round 
the  pole  of  the  ecliptic,  and  its  axis  is  more  or  less 
inclined  to  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic;  but  these 
two  motions,  the  causes  of  which  are  now  ascer- 
tained, are  confined  within  certain  bounds,  and 
are  much  too  limited  for  the  production  of  those 
effects  which  we  have  stated.  Besides,  as  these 
motions  are  exceedingly  slow,  they  are  altogether 
inadequate  to  account  for  catastrophes  which  must 
necessarily  have  been  sudden. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  to  all  other  slow 
motions  which  have  been  conceived  as  causes  of 
the  revolutions  on  the  surface  of  our  earth,  chosen 
doubtless  in  the  hope  that  their  existence  could  not 
be  denied,  as  it  might  always  be  asserted  that 
their  extreme  slowness  rendered  them  impercepti- 
ble. But  it  is  of  no  importance  whether  these  as- 
sumed slow  motions  be  true  or  false,  for  they  ex- 
plain nothing,  since  no  cause  acting  slowly  could 
possibly  have  produced  sudden  effects. 

Admitting  that  there  was  a  gradual  diminution 
of  the  waters;  that  the  sea  might  take  away  solid 
matters  from  one  place  and  carry  them  to  another; 
that  the  temperature  of  the  globe  may  have  dimi- 
nished or  increased;  none  of  these  causes  could 


56  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

have  overthrown  our  strata;  enclosed  great  qua- 
drupeds with  their  flesh  and  skin  in  ice;  laid  dry 
sea-shells  in  as  perfect  preservation  as  if  just  drawn 
up  alive  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean;  or  utterly 
destroyed  many  species,  and  even  entire  genera, 
of  testaceous  animals. 

These  considerations  have  presented  themselves 
to  most  naturalists:  And,  among  those  who  have 
endeavoured  to  explain  the  present  state  of  the 
glohe,  hardly  any  one  has  attributed  the  entire 
changes  it  has  undergone  to  slowly  operating 
causes,  and  still  less  to  causes  which  continue  to 
act,  as  it  were,  under  our  observation.  The  ne- 
cessity to  which  they  were  thus  reduced,  of  seek- 
ing for  causes  different  from  those  which  we  still 
observe  in  activity,  is  the  very  thing  which  has 
forced  them  to  make  so  many  extraordinary  sup- 
positions, and  to  lose  themselves  in  so  many  erro- 
neous and  contradictory  speculations,  that  the  very 
name  of  their  science,  as  I  have  elsewhere  said, 
has  become  ridiculous  in  the  opinion  of  prejudiced 
persons,  who  only  see  in  it  the  systems  which  it 
has  exploded,  and  forget  the  extensive  and  impor- 
tant series  of  facts  which  it  has  brought  to  light 
and  established.* 


*When  I  formerly  mentioned  this  circumstance,  of  the  science  of 
geology  having  become  ridiculous,  I  only  expressed  a  well-known 
truth,  without  presuming  to  give  my  own  opinion,  as  some  respecta- 
ble geologists  seem  to  have  believed.  If  their  mistake  arose  from  my 
expressions  having  been  rather  equivocal,  I  take  this  opportunity  of 
explaining  my  meaning. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  57 


§  19.  Of  former  Systems  of  Geology. 

During  a  long  time,  two  events  or  epochs  only, 
the  Creation  and  the  Deluge,  were  admitted  as 
comprehending  the  changes  which  have  occurred 
upon  the  globe;  and  all  the  efforts  of  geologists 
were  directed  to  account  for  the  present  actual 
state  of  the  earth,  by  arbitrarily  ascribing  to  it  a 
certain  primitive  state,  afterwards  changed  and 
modified  by  the  deluge,  of  which  also,  as  to  its 
causes,  its  operation,  and  its  effects,  every  one  of 
them  entertained  his  own  theory. 

Thus,  in  the  opinion  of  Burnet,*  the  whole  earth 
at  the  first  consisted  of  a  uniform  light  crust,  which 
covered  over  the  abyss  of  the  sea,  and  which,  be- 
ing broken  for  the  production  of  the  deluge,  form- 
ed the  mountains  by  its  fragments.  According  to 
Woodward^  the  deluge  was  occasioned  by  a  mo- 
mentary suspension  of  cohesion  among  the  parti- 
cles of  mineral  bodies;  the  whole  mass  of  the 
globe  was  dissolved,  and  the  soft  paste  became  pe- 
netrated by  shells.  Scheuchzer\  conceived  that  God 
raised  up  the  mountains  for  the  purpose  of  allow- 
ing the  waters  of  the  deluge  to  run  offj  and  accord- 
ingly selected  those  portions  which  contained  the 
greatest  abundance  of  rocks,  without  which  they 

*  Telluris  Theoria  Sacra.    Lond.  1681. 

f  Essay  towards  the  Natural  History  of  the  Earth.    Lond.  1702. 

%  Memoires  de  1' Academic,  1708. 

8 


58  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

could  not  have  supported  themselves.  Whistori* 
fancied  that  the  earth  was  created  from  the  atmos- 
phere of  one  comet,  and  that  it  was  deluged  by 
the  tail  of  another.  The  heat  which  remained 
from  its  first  origin,  in  his  opinion,  excited  the 
whole  antediluvian  population,  men  and  animals, 
to  sin,  for  which  they  were  all  drowned  in  the  de- 
luge, excepting  the  fish,  whose  passions  were  appa- 
rently  less  violent. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  that  though  naturalists  might 
have  a  range  sufficiently  wide  within  the  limits 
prescribed  by  the  book  of  Genesis,  they  very  soon 
found  themselves  in  too  narrow  bounds:  and  when 
they  had  succeeded  in  converting  the  six  days 
employed  in  the  work  of  creation  into  so  many  pe- 
riods of  indefinite  length,  their  systems  took  a  flight 
proportioned  to  the  periods,  which  they  could  then 
dispose  of  at  pleasure. 

•    -.  •     -  ^r  -«"#•.• 

Even  the  great  Leibnitz,  as  well  as  Descartes^ 
amused  his  imagination  by  conceiving  the  world  to 
be  an  extinguished  sun,  or  vitrified  globe;  upon 
which  the  vapours  condensing  in  proportion  as  it 
cooled,  formed  the  seas,  and  afterwards  deposited 
calcarious  strata,  t 

By  Demaittet,  the  globe  was  conceived  to  have 


*  A  New  Theory  of  the  Earth.    Lond.  1 708. 

f  Leibnitz,  Protogcea.    Act.  Lips.  1683 ;  Gott.  1749. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  59 

been  covered  with  water  for  many  thousand  years. 
He  supposed  that  this  water  had  gradually  retired; 
that  all  the  terrestrial  animals  were  originally  in- 
habitants of  the  sea ;  that  man  himself  began  his 
career  as  a  fish:  And  he  asserts,  that  it  is  not  un- 
common, even  now,  to  meet  with  fishes  in  the 
ocean,  which  are  still  only  half  men,  but  whose  de- 
scendants will  in  time  become  perfect  human  be- 
ings.* 

The  system  of  Buffon  is  merely  an  extension  of 
that  before  devised  by  Leibnitz,  with  the  addition 
only  of  a  comet,  which,  by  a  violent  blow  upon  the 
sun,  struck  off  the  mass  of  our  earth  in  a  liquefied 
state,  along  with  the  masses  of  all  the  other  planets 
of  our  system  at  the  same  instant.  From  this  sup- 
position, he  was  enabled  to  assume  positive  dates 
or  epochs:  As,  from  the  actual  temperature  of  the 
earth,  it  could  be  calculated  how  long  time  it  had 
taken  to  cool  so  far.  And  as  all  the  other  planets 
had  come  from  the  sun  at  the  same  time,  it  could 
also  be  calculated  how  many  ages  were  still  re- 
quired for  cooling  the  greater  ones,  and  how  far 
the  smaller  ones  were  already  frozen. 

In  the  present  day,  men  of  bolder  imagina- 
tions than  ever,  have  employed  themselves  on 
this  great  subject.  Some  writers  have  revived 
and  greatly  extended  the  ideas  of  Demaillet. 

*  Telliamed. 


60  THEORY    OF  THE  EARTH, 

They  suppose  that  every  thing  was  originally  fluid ; 
that  this  universal  fluid  gave  existence  to  animals, 
which  were  at  first  of  the  simplest  kind,  such 
as  the  monads  and  other  infusory  microscopic  ani- 
malcules ;  that,  in  process  of  time,  and  by  acquir- 
ing different  habits,  the  races  of  these  animals  be- 
came complicated,  and  assumed  that  diversity  of  na- 
ture and  character  in  which  they  now  exist.  It  is  by 
all  those  races  of  animals  that  the  waters  of  the 
ocean  have  been  gradually  converted  into  calca- 
rious  earth;  while  the  vegetables,  concerning 
the  origin  and  metamorphoses  of  which  these  au- 
thors give  us  no  account,  have  converted  a  part 
of  the  same  water  into  clay ;  and  these  two  earths, 
after  being  stript  of  the  peculiar  characters  they 
had  received  respectively  from  animal  and  vege- 
table life,  are  resolved  by  a  final  analysis  into  si- 
lex  :  Hence  the  more  ancient  mountains  are  more 
silicious  than  the  rest.  Thus,  according  to  these 
authors,  all  the  solid  particles  of  our  globe  owe 
their  existence  to  animal  or  vegetable  life,  and 
without  this  our  globe  would  still  have  continued 
entirely  liquid.* 

Other  writers  have  preferred  the  ideas  of  Kep- 
ler, and,  like  that  great  astronomer,  have  consid- 

*  See  La  Physique  de  Rodig.  p.  106.  Leipsic,  1801,  and  Tellia- 
med,  p.  169.  Lamark  has  expanded  this  system  at  great  length,  and 
supported  it  with  much  sagacity,  in  his  Hydrogeologie,  and  Philoso- 
phic Zoologique. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  61 

ered  the  globe  itself  as  possessed  of  living  faculties. 
According  to  them,  it  contains  a  circulating  vital 
fluid.  A  process  of  assimilation  goes  on  in  it  as 
\vell  as  in  animated  bodies.  Every  particle  of  it 
is  alive.  It  possesses  instinct  and  volition  even 
to  the  most  elementary  of  its  molecules,  which  at- 
tract and  repel  each  other  according  to  sympathies 
and  antipathies.  Each  kind  of  mineral  substance 
is  capable  of  converting  immense  masses  of  mat- 
ter into  its  own  peculiar  nature,  as  we  convert 
our  aliment  into  flesh  and  blood.  The  mountains 
are  the  respiratory  organs  of  the  globe,  and  the 
schists  its  organs  of  secretion.  By  the  latter  it- 
decomposes  the  waters  of  the  sea  in  order  to  pro- 
duce volcanic  eruptions.  The  veins  in  strata  are 
caries,  or  abscesses  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  and 
the  metals  are  products  of  rottenness  and  disease, 
to  which  it  is  owing  that  almost  all  of  them  have 
so  bad  a  smell.* 

It  must,  however,  be  noticed,  that  these  are 
what  may  be  termed  extreme  examples,  and  that 
all  geologists  have  not  permitted  themselves  to  be 
carried  away  by  such  bold  or  extravagant  concep- 
tions as  those  we  have  just  cited.  Yet,  among  those 
who  have  proceeded  with  more  caution,  and  have 
not  searched  for  geological  causes  beyond  the  es- 

*  M.  Patrin  has  used  much  ingenuity  to  establish  this  view  of  the 
subject,  in  several  articles  ef  the  Nouveau  Dictionnaire  d?  Histoire 
Naturdle. 


62  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

tablishecl  limits  of  physical  and  chemical  science, 
there  still  remain  much  diversity  and  contradiction, 

According  to  one  of  these  writers,  every  thing 
has  been  successively  precipitated  and  deposited, 
nearly  as  it  exists  at  present ;  but  the  sea,  which 
covered  all,  has  gradually  retired.* 

Another  conceives,  that  the  materials  of  the 
mountains  are  incessantly  wasted  and  floated  down 
by  the  rivers,  and  carried  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean,  to  be  there  heated  under  an  enormous  pres- 
sure, and  to  form  strata  which  shall  be  violently 
lifted  up  at  some  future  period,  by  the  heat  that  now 
consolidates  and  hardens  them.f 

A  third  supposes  the  fluid  materials  of  the  globe 
to  have  been  divided  among  a  multitude  of  succes- 
sive lakes,  placed  like  the  benches  of  an  amphi- 
theatre ;  which,  after  having  deposited  our  shelly 
strata,  have  successively  broken  their  dikes,  to 
descend  and  fill  the  basin  of  the  ocean.  J 
,  i  </)  f:.-;',v--  /\£'it$'l\£3$$&  :£-*H>  "  tipjN  -;  •••'•£'  . 

According  to  a  fourth,  tides  of  seven  or  eight 
hundred  fathoms  have  carried  off  from  time  to 


*  In  his  Geology,  Delematherie  assumes  crystallization  as  the  chief 
cause  or  agent. 

t  Button,  and  Playfair  in  his  Illustrations  of  the  Huttonian  Theory  of 
the  Earth.  Edirib.  1802. 

t  See    Lamanon,    in  various   parts  of  the  Journal  de  Physique. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  63 

time  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  throwing  it  up  in 
mountains  and  hills  on  the  primitive  valleys  and 
plains  of  the  continent.* 

A  fifth  conceives  the  various  fragments  of  which 
the  surface  of  the  earth  is  composed  to  have  fallen 
successively  from  heaven,  in  the  manner  of  meteoric 
stones,  and  alleges  that  they  still  retain  the  marks 
of  their  origin  in  the  unknown  species  of  animals 
whose  exuviae  they  contain.t 

By  a  sixth,  the  globe  is  supposed  to  be  hollow, 
and  to  contain  in  its  cavity  a  nucleus  of  loadstone, 
which  is  dragged  from  one  pole  of  the  earth  to  the 
other  by  the  attraction  of  comets,  changing  the 
centre  of  gravity,  and  consequently  hurrying  the 
great  body  of  the  ocean  along  with  it,  so  as  alter- 
nately to  drown  the  two  hemispheres. J 

§  20.     Diversities   of  the    Geological    Systems,   and 
their  causes. 

We  might  have  cited  twenty  other  systems,  as 
different  from  one  another  as  these  just  now  enu- 
merated. And,  to  prevent  mistake,  we  wish  it  to 
be  distinctly  understood,  that  it  is  by  no  means 

*  Dolomieu,  in  the  Journal  de  Physique. 

f  M.  M.  de  Marschall,  in  Researches  respecting  the  Origin  and  De- 
velopement  of  the  present  State  of  the  Earth.  Geissen,  1802. 

t  Bertrand,  Periodical  Renewal  of  the  Terrestrial  Continents.  Ham- 
burgh,  1799. 


64  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

our  intention  to  criticise  their  authors ;  on  the  con- 
trary, we  are  ready  to  admit  that  these  systems 
have  generally  been  conceived  by  men  ol  science 
and  genius,  none  of  whom  were  ignorant  of  the  facts 
on  which  they  reasoned,  and  several  of  whom  had 
made  extensive  journeys  for  the  purpose  of  examin- 
ing them. 

Whence  comes  it  then,  that  there  should  be  so 
much  contrariety  in  the  solutions  of  the  same  prob- 
lem, that  are  given  by  men  who  proceed  upon  the 
same  principles  ?  This  may  have  been  occasioned 
by  the  conditions  of  the  problem  never  having  been 
all  taken  into  consideration;  by  which  it  has  re- 
mained hitherto  indeterminate,  and  susceptible  of 
many  solutions — all  equally  good,  when  such  or 
such  conditions  are  abstracted ;  and  all  equally  bad, 
when  a  new  condition  comes  to  be  known,  or  when 
the  attention  is  directed  to  some  known  condition, 
which  had  been  formerly  neglected. 

§  21.  Statement  of  the  Nature  and  Conditions  of  the 
Problem  to  be  solved. 

To  quit  the  language  of  mathematics,  it  may  be 
asserted,  that  almost  all  the  authors  of  these  sys- 
tems, confining  their  attention  to  certain  difficul- 
ties by  which  they  were  struck  more  forcibly  than 
by  others,  have  endeavoured  to  solve  these  in  a 
way  more  or  less  probable,  and  have  allowed 
others  to  remain  unnoticed,  equally  numerous  and 
equally  important.  For  example,  the  only  diffi- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  65 

culty  with  one  consisted  in  explaining  the  change 
which  had  taken  place  on  the  level  of  the  seas ; 
with  another  it  consisted  in  accounting  for  the  so- 
lution of  all  terrestrial  substances  in  the  same  fluid ; 
and  with  a  third,  it  consisted  in  showing  how  ani- 
mals that  were  natives  of  the  torrid  could  live  un- 
der the  frigid  zone.  Exhausting  the  whole  of  their 
ingenuity  on  these  questions,  they  conceived  that 
they  had  done  every  thing  that  was  necessary, 
when  they  had  contrived  some  method  of  answer- 
ing them ;  and  yet,  while  they  neglected  all  the 
other  phenomena,  they  did  not  always  think  of 
determining  with  precision  the  measure  and  ex- 
tent of  those  which  they  attempted  to  explain. 
This  is  peculiarly  the  case  in  regard  to  the  secon- 
dary stratifications,  which  constitute,  however,  the 
most  difficult  and  most  important  portion  of  the 
problem.  It  has  hardly  ever  been  attempted  care- 
fully to  ascertain  the  superpositions  of  their  strata, 
or  the  connexions  of  these  strata  with  the  species 
of  animals  and  of  plants  whose  remains  they  en- 
close. 

Are  there  certain  animals  and  plants  peculiar  to 
certain  strata,  and  not  found  in  others  ?  What  are 
the  species  that  appear  first  in  order,  and  those 
which  succeed  ?  Do  these  two  kinds  of  species 
ever  accompany  one  another?  Are  there  altera- 
tions in  their  appearances ;  or,  in  other  words,  does 
the  first  species  appear  a  second  time,  and  does 
the  second  species  then  disappear  ?  Have  these  ani- 

9 


66  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

mals  and  plants  lived  in  the  places  where  their 
exuviae  are  found,  or  have  they  heen  brought  there 
from  other  places  ?  Do  all  these  animals  and  plants 
still  continue  to  live  in  some  part  of  the  earth,  or 
have  they  been  totally  or  partially  destroyed  ?  Is 
there  any  constant  connexion  between  the  anti- 
quity of  the  strata,  and  the  resemblance  or  non- 
resemblance  of  the  extraneous  fossils,  to  the  ani- 
mals and  plants  that  still  exist  ?  Is  there  any  con- 
nexion, in  regard  to  climate,  between  the  extra- 
neous fossils  and  the  still  living  organized  bodies 
which  most  nearly  resemble  them  ?  May  it  be  con- 
cluded, that  the  transportation  of  these  living  or- 
ganized bodies,  if  such  a  thing  ever  happened,  has 
taken  place  from  north  to  south,  or  from  east  to 
west ;  or  was  it  effected  by  means  that  irregularly 
scattered  and  mingled  them  together  ?  And,  final- 
ly, is  it  still  possible  to  distinguish  the  epochs  of 
these  transportations,  by  attentively  examining  the 
strata  which  enclose  the  remains,  or  are  imprinted 
by  their  forms  ? 

If,  from  the  want  of  sufficient  evidence,  these 
questions  cannot  be  satisfactorily  answered,  how 
shall  we  be  able  to  explain  the  causes  of  the  pre- 
sently existing  state  of  our  globe  ?  It  is  certain, 
that  so  far  from  any  of  these  points  being  as  yet 
completely  established,  naturalists  seem  to  have 
scarcely  any  idea  of  the  propriety  of  investigating 
facts  before  they  construct  their  systems.  The 
cause  of  this  strange  procedure  may  be  discovered, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  6? 

by  considering  that  all  geologists  hitherto  have 
either  been  mere  cabinet  naturalists,  who  had 
themselves  hardly  paid  any  attention  to  the  struc- 
ture of  mountains,  or  mere  mineralogists,  who  had 
not  studied  in  sufficient  detail  the  innumerable  di- 
versity of  animals,  and  the  almost  infinite  compli- 
cation of  their  various  parts  and  organs.  The  for- 
mer of  these  have  only  constructed  systems ;  while 
the  latter  have  made  excellent  collections  of  ob- 
servations, and  have  laid  the  foundations  of  true 
geological  science,  but  have  been  unable  to  raise 
arid  complete  the  edifice. 

§  22.  Of  the  Progress  of  Mineral  Geology. 

The  purely  mineralogical  portion  of  the  great 
problem  of  the  Theory  of  the  Earth  has  been  in- 
vestigated with  admirable  care  by  Saussure,  and 
has  been  since  explained  in  an  astonishing  degree 
by  Werner,  and  by  the  numerous  enlightened  pu- 
pils of  his  school. 

The  former  of  these  celebrated  philosophers, 
by  a  laborious  investigation  of  the  most  inaccessi- 
ble mountain  districts  during  twenty  years  of  con- 
tinual research,  in  which  he  examined  the  Alps  on 
all  sides,  and  penetrated  through  all  their  defiles, 
has  laid  open  to  our  view  the  entire  disorder  of  the 
primitive  formations,  and  has  clearly  traced  the 
boundaries  by  which  they  are  distinguishable  from 
the  secondary  formations.  The  other  equally  ce* 


68  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

lebrated  geologist,  taking  advantage  of  the  nume- 
rous excavations  in  the  most  ancient  mining  dis- 
trict in  the  world,  has  fixed  the  laws  which  regu- 
late the  succession  of  strata,  pointing  out  their 
respective  antiquity  in  regard  to  each  other,  and 
tracing  each  of  them  through  all  its  changes  and 
metamorphoses.  From  him  alone  we  date  the 
commencement  of  real  geology,  so  far  as  respects 
the  mineral  natures  of  the  strata :  But  neither  he 
nor  Saussure  has  denned  the  species  of  organized 
extraneous  fossils  in  each  description  of  the  strata 
with  that  accuracy  which  has  become  necessary, 
now  that  the  number  of  animals  already  known 
has  become  so  great. 

Other  naturalists,  it  is  true,  have  studied  the  fos- 
.  sil  remains  of  organized  bodies ;  they   have  col- 
lected and  represented  them  by  thousands,  and 
their  works   certainly  will  serve  as    a  valuable 
storehouse   of  materials.     But,  considering  these 
fossil  plants  and  animals  merely  in  themselves,  in- 
f  stead  of  viewing  them  in  their  connexion  with  the 
'  theory  of  the  earth  ;  or  regarding  their  netrifac- 
tions   and  extraneous   fossils  as   mere  curiosities, 
I  rather  than  as   historical  documents ;  or  confining 
themselves  to  partial  explanations  of  the  particular 
bearings  of  each  individual  specimen ;  they  have 
almost  always  neglected  to  investigate  the  general 
laws  affecting  their  position,   or  the  relation  of  the 
extraneous  fossils  with  the  strata  in  which  they  are 
found. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  69 

§  23.  Of  the  Importance  of  Extraneous  Fossils,  or 
Petrifactions,  in  Geology. 

The  importance  of  investigating  the  relations 
of  extraneous  fossils  with  the  strata  in  which  they 
are  contained,  is  quite  obvious.  It  is  to  them  alone 
that  we  owe  the  commencement  even  of  the  Theo- 
ry of  the  Earth ;  as,  but  for  them,  we  could  never 
have  even  suspected  that  there  had  existed  any 
successive  epochs  in  the  formation  of  our  earth, 
and  a  series  of  different  and  consecutive  operations 
in  reducing  it  to  its  present  state.  By  them  alone 
we  are  enabled  to  ascertain,  with  the  utmost  cer- 
tainty, that  our  earth  has  not  always  been  cover- 
ed over  by  the  same  external  crust ;  because  we 
are  thoroughly  assured  that  the  organized  bodies 
to  which  these  fossil  remains  belong,  must  have 
lived  upon  the  surface,  before  they  came  to  be  bu- 
ried, as  they  now  are,  at  a  great  depth.  It  is  only 
by  means  of  analogy,  that  we  have  been  enabled 
to  extend  to  the  primitive  formations,  the  same 
conclusions  which  are  furnished  directly  for  the 
secondary  formations  by  the  extraneous  fossils  • 
and  if  there  had  only  existed  formations  or  strata 
in  which  there  were  no  extraneous  fossils,  it  could 
never  have  been  asserted  that  these  several  for- 
mations had  not  been  simultaneous. 

It  is  also  owing  to  these  extraneous  fossils,  slight 
as  is  the  knowledge  we  have  hitherto  acquired 


70  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

respecting  them,  that  we  have  been  enabled  to 
discover  the  little  that  we  yet  know  concerning 
the  revolutions  of  our  globe.  From  them  we  have 
learned  that  the  strata,  or  at  least  those  which 
contain  their  remains,  have  been  quietly  deposited 
in  a  fluid ;  that  the  variations  of  the  several  strata 
must  have  corresponded  with  the  variations  in  the 
nature  of  the  fluid ;  that  they  have  been  left  bare 
by  the  transportation  of  this  fluid  to  some  other 
place ;  and  that  this  fact  must  have  happened 
more  than  once.  Nothing  of  all  this  could  have 
been  known  with  certainty,  without  the  aid  of  ex- 
traneous fossils. 

The  study  of  the  mineralogical  part  of  geo- 
logy, though  not  less  necessary,  and  even  a  great 
deal  more  useful  to  the  practical  arts,  is  yet  much 
less  instructive  so  far  as  respects  the  objects  of 
our  present  inquiry.  We  remain  in  utter  igno- 
rance respecting  the  causes  which  have  given  rise 
to  the  variety  in  the  mineral  substances  of  which 
strata  are  composed.  We  are  ignorant  even  of 
the  agents  which  may  have  held  some  of  these  sub- 
stances in  a  state  of  solution ;  and  it  is  still  dispu- 
ted respecting  several  of  them,  whether  they  have 
owed  their  origin  to  the  agency  of  water  or  fire. 
After  all,  philosophers  are  only  agreed  on  one  point, 
which  is,  that  the  sea  has  changed  its  place ;  and 
this  could  never  have  been  certainly  known,  but 
for  the  existence  of  extraneous  fossils.  These 
fossils,  then,  which  have  given  rise  to  the  theory 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  71 

of  die  earth,  have  at  the  same  time  furnished  its 
principal  illustrations — the  only  ones,  indeed,  that 
have  as  yet  been  generally  received  and  acknow- 
ledged.* 

This  is  the  consideration  by  which  I  have  been 
encouraged  to  investigate  the  subject  of  extraneous 
fossils.  But  the  field  is  extensive  ;  and  it  is  only 
a  very  inconsiderable  portion  of  it  that  can  be  cul- 
tivated by  the  labour  of  a  single  individual.  It 
was  necessary,  therefore,  to^select  a  particular  de- 
partment, and  I  very  soon  made  my  choice.  That 
class  of  extraneous  fossils,  which  forms  the  pecu- 
liar subject  of  this  Essay,  engaged  my  attention  at 
the  very  outset,  because  it  is  evidently  the  most  fer- 
tile in  affording  precise  results,  yet  at  the  same 
time  less  known  than  others,  and  richer  in  new  ob- 
jects of  research.fj 

§  24.  High  Importance  of  investigating  I  fie  Fossil  Re- 
mains of  Quadrupeds. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  fossil  remains  of  the  bones 
of  quadrupeds  must  lead  to  more  rigorous  conclu- 
sions than  any  other  remains  of  organized  bodies* 
and  that  for  several  reasons. 

*  Note  K. 

f  My  work  on  this  subject  \viil  clearly  show  how  far  this  inquiry  is 
yot  new,  notwithstanding  the  excellent  labours  of  Camper,  Pallas, 
Blumenlweh,  Merle,  Scemmerring,  Rosenmuller,  Fischer,  Fauja?,  ami 
other  learned  men,  whose  works  I  have  most  scrupulously  cited  in 
puch  of  my  chapters  as  their  researches  are  connected  with. 

t  Note  L. 


72  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

In  the  first  place,  they  indicate  much  more  clear- 
ly the  nature  of  the  revolutions  to  which  they  have 
been  subjected.  The  remains  of  shells  certainly 
indicate  that  the  sea  has  once  existed  in  the  places 
where  these  collections  have  been  formed :  But 
the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  their  spe- 
cies, when  rigorously  inquired  into,  may  possibly 
have  been  occasioned  by  slight  changes  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  fluid  in  which  they  were  formed,  or  on- 
ly in  its  temperature,  and  may  even  have  arisen 
from  other  accidental  causes.  We  can  never  be 
perfectly  assured  that  certain  species,  and  even 
genera,  inhabiting  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  occu- 
pying certain  fixed  spaces  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  may  not  have  been  driven  away  from  these 
by  other  species  or  genera. 

In  regard  to  quadrupeds,  on  the  contrary,  every 
thing  is  precise.  The  appearance  of  their  bones 
in  strata,  and  stillmore  of  their  entire  carcasses, 
clearly  establishes  that  the  bed  in  which  they  are 
found  must  have  been  previously  laid  dry,  or  at 
least  that  dry  land  must  have  existed  in  its  imme- 
diate neighbourhood.  Their  disappearance  as 
certainly  announces  that  this  stratum  must  have 
been  inundated,  or  that  the  dry  land  had  ceased  to 
exist  in  that  state.  It  is  from  them,  therefore,  that 
we  learn  with  perfect  certainty  the  important  fact 
of  the  repeated  irruptions  of  the  sea  upon  the  land, 
which  the  extraneous  fossils  and  other  production^ 
of  marine  origin  could  not  of  themselves  have 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  .      73 

proved ;  and,  by  a  careful  investigation  of  them, 
we  may  hope  to  ascertain  the  number  and  the 
epochs  of  those  irruptions  of  the  sea. 

Secondly,  the  nature  of  the  revolutions  which 
have  changed  the  surface  of  our  earth,  must  have 
exerted  a  more  powerful  action  upon  terrestrial 
quadrupeds  than  upon  marine  animals.  As  these 
revolutions  have  consisted  chiefly  in  changes  of 
the  bed  of  the  sea,  and  as  the  waters  must  have 
destroyed  all  the  quadrupeds  which  they  reached, 
if  their  irruption  over  the  land  was  general,  they 
must  have  destroyed  the  entire  class,  or,  if  con- 
fined only  to  certain  continents  at  one  time,  they 
must  have  destroyed  at  least  all  the  species  in- 
habiting these  continents,  without  having  the  same 
effect  upon  the  marine  animals.  On  the  other 
hand,  millions  of  aquatic  animals  may  have  been 
left  quite  dry,  or  buried  in  newly-formed  strata,  or 
thrown  violently  on  the  coasts,  while  their  races 
may  have  been  still  preserved  in  more  peaceful 
parts  of  the  sea,  whence  they  might  again  propa- 
gate and  spread  after  the  agitation  of  the  water 
had  ceased. 

Thirdly,  this  more  complete  action  is  also  more 
easily  ascertained  and  demonstrated;  because, 
as  the  number  of  terrestrial  quadrupeds  is  limited, 
and  as  most  of  their  species,  at  least  the  large  ones, 
are  well  known,  we  can  more  easily  determine 
whether  fossil  bones  belong  to  a  species  which  still 

10 


74  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

exists,  or  to  one  that  is  now  lost.  As,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  are  still  very  far  from  being  acquainted 
with  all  the  testaceous  animals  and  fishes  belong- 
ing to  the  sea,  and  as  we  probably  still  remain  ig- 
norant of  the  greater  part  of  those  which  live  in 
the  extensive  deeps  of  the  ocean,  it  is  impossible 
to  know,  with  any  certainty,  whether  a  species 
found  in  a  fossil  state  may  not  still  exist  somewhere 
alive.  Hence  some  naturalists  persist  in  giving 
the  name  of  oceanic  or  pelagic  shells  to  belemnites 
and  cornua-ammonis,  and  some  other  genera,  which 
have  not  hitherto  been  found,  except  in  the  fossil 
state,  in  ancient  strata;  meaning  by  this,  that  al- 
though these  have  not  as  yet  been  found  in  a  living 
or  recent  state,  it  is  because  they  inhabit  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ocean,  far  beyond  the  reach  of  our  nets. 

§  25.  Of  the  small  Probability  of  discovering  new  Spe- 
cies of  the  larger  Quadrupeds. 

Naturalists  certainly  have  neither  explored  all 
the  continents,  nor  do  they  as  yet  know  even  all 
the  quadrupeds  of  those  parts  which  have  been 
explored.  New  species  of  this  class  are  discover- 
ed from  time  to  time ;  and  those  who  have  not  ex- 
amined with  attention  all  the  circumstances  be- 
longing to  these  discoveries,  may  allege  also,  that 
the  unknown  quadrupeds,  whose  fossil  bones  have 
been  found  in  the  strata  of  the  earth,  have  hitherto 
remained  concealed  in  some  islands  not  yet  dis- 
covered by  navigators,  or  in  some  of  the  vast  de- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  75 

serts  which  occupy  the  middle  of  Africa,  Asia,  the 
two  Americas,  and  New  Holland.  But,  if  we  care- 
fully attend  to  the  kinds  of  quadrupeds  that  have 
been  recently  discovered,  and  to  the  circumstances 
of  their  discovery,  we  shall  easily  perceive  that 
there  is  very  little  chance  indeed  of  our  ever  find- 
ing alive  those  which  have  only  been  seen  in  a 
fossil  state. 

Islands  of  moderate  size,  and  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  large  continents,  have  very  few 
quadrupeds,  and  these  mostly  very  small.  When 
they  contain  any  of  the  larger  quadrupeds,  these 
must  have  been  carried  to  them  from  other  coun- 
tries. Cook  and  Bougainville  found  no  other  quad- 
rupeds besides  hogs  and  dogs  in  the  South  Sea 
islands ;  and  the  largest  quadruped  of  the  West 
India  islands,  when  first  discovered,  was  the  agouti, 
a  species  of  the  cavy,  an  animal  apparently  between 
the  rat  and  the  rabbit, 

It  is  true,  that  the  great  continents,  as  Asia,  Afri- 
ca, the  two  Americas,  and  New  Holland,  have 
large  quadrupeds,  and,  generally  speaking,  con- 
taip  species  proper  to  each :  Insomuch,  that,  upon 
discovering  countries  which  are  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  the  animals  they  contain  of  the 
class  of  quadrupeds  were  found  entirely  different 
from  those  which  existed  in  other  countries.  Thus, 
when  the  Spaniards  first  penetrated  into  South 
America,  they  did  not  find  it  to  contain  a  single 


76  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

quadruped  exactly  the  same  with  those  of  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa.  The  puma,  the  jaguar,  the  ta- 
pir, the  capybara,  the  lama,  or  glama,  and  vicug- 
na, and  the  whole  tribe  of  sapajous,  were  to  them 
entirely  new  animals,  of  which  they  had  not  the 
smallest  idea. 

Similar  circumstances  have  recurred  in  our 
own  time,  when  the  coasts  of  New  Holland  and 
the  adjacent  islands  were  first  examined.  The 
species  of  the  kangaroo,  phascoloma,  dasyurus,  pera- 
mela,  phalanger,  or  flying  opposum,  with  the  hairy 
and  spinous  duck-billed  animals  denominated  or- 
nithorinckus  and  echidna,*  have  astonished  zoologists 
by  presenting  new  and  strange  conformations,  con- 
trary to  all  former  rules,  and  incapable  of  being 
reduced  under  any  of  the  former  systems, 

If  there  still  remained  any  great  continent  to  be 
discovered,  we  might  perhaps  expect  to  be  made 
acquainted  with  new  species  of  large  quadrupeds ; 
among  which  some  might  be  found  more  or  less 
similar  to  those  of  which  we  find  the  exuviae  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  But  it  is  merely  sufficient  to 
glance  the  eye  over  the  map  of  the  world,  and  ob- 
serve the  innumerable  directions  in  which  naviga- 
tors have  traversed  the  ocean,  in  order  to  be  satis- 


*  These  are  new  animals  of  Australasia,  or  New  Holland,  only  re- 
cently discovered,  whose  strange  conformations,  not  analogous  with 
the  animals  of  the  old  world,  or  of  America,  have  required  the  adop- 
tion of  new  generic  terms  by  Cuvier  and  other  naturalists.— Trahsl. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  7? 

fied  that  there  does  not  remain  any  large  land  to 
be  discovered,  unless  it  may  be  situated  towards 
the  antartic  pole,  where  eternal  ice  necessarily  for- 
bids the  existence  of  animal  life. 

i 

•'&\. " 

Hence  it  is  only  from  the  interiors  of  the  large 
divisions  of  the  world  already  known,  that  we  can 
now  hope  to  procure  any  quadrupeds  hitherto  un- 
known. But  a  very  little  reflection  will  be  sufficient 
to  convince  us,  that  our  hopes  from  thence  are  not 
much  better  founded  than  from  the  larger  islands. 

Doubtless,  European  travellers  cannot  easily 
penetrate  througli  vast  extents  of  countries  which 
are  either  uninhabited,  or  peopled  only  with  fero- 
cious tribes ;  and  this  is  peculiarly  the  case  in  re- 
gard to  Africa.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
the  animals  themselves  from  roaming  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  penetrating  to  the  coasts.  Even  al- 
though great  chains  of  mountains  may  intervene 
between  the  coasts  and  the  interior  deserts,  these 
must  certainly  be  broken  in  some  parts,  to  allow 
the  rivers  to  pass  through ;  and  in  these  burning 
deserts  the  animals  naturally  follow  the  courses  of 
rivers.  The  inhabitants  of  the  coasts  must  also 
frequently  penetrate  inland  along  the  rivers,  and 
will  quickly  acquire  a  knowledge  of  all  the  re- 
markable living  creatures,  even  to  the  very  sources 
of  these  rivers,  either  from  personal  observation, 
or  by  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  inte- 
rior. At  no  period  of  our  history,  therefore,  could 


78  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

civilized  nations  frequent  the  coasts  of  large  coun- 
tries for  any  length  of  time,  without  gaining  some 
tolerable  knowledge  of  all  the  animals  they  contain- 
ed, or  at  least  of  such  as  were  any  way  remarkable 
for  their  size  or  configuration.  This  reasoning  is  sup- 
ported by  well  known  facts.  Thus,  although  the 
ancients  seem  never  to  have  passed  the  mountains 
of  Imaus,  or  to  have  crossed  the  Ganges  towards 
the  east  of  Asia,  and  never  penetrated  far  to  the 
south  of  Mount  Atlas  in  Africa,  yet  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  larger  animals  of  these  two 
grand  divisions  of  the  world ;  and  if  they  have  not 
distinguished  all  their  species,  it  was  because  the 
similarities  of  some  of  these  occasioned  them  to  be 
confounded  together,  and  not  because  they  had 
not  seen  them,  or  heard  them  talked  of  by  others. 

The  ancients  were  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  elephant,  and  the  history  of  that  quadruped  is 
given  more  exactly  by  Aristotle  than  by  Buflfon. 
They  were  not  ignorant  even  of  the  differences 
which  distinguish  the  elephants  of  Africa  from 
those  of  Asia.* 

They  knew  the  two-horned  rhinoceros,  which 
Domitian  exhibited  in  his  shows  at  Rome,  and  had 
stamped  on  his  medals,  and  of  which  Pausanias 
has  left  a  very  good  description.  Even  the  one- 

*  See  this  more  particularly  noticed  in  the  history  of  the  elephant, 
in  the  second  volume  of  my  Researches  into  the  Extraneous  or  Fossil 
Remains  of  Quadrupeds. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  79 

horned  rhinoceros,  although  its  country  be  far  from 
Rome,  was  equally  known  to  the  Romans ;  Pom- 
pey  showed  them  one  in  the  circus,  and  Strabo  has 
described  another  which  he  saw  at  Alexandria.* 

The  hippopotamus  has  not  been  so  well  de- 
scribed by  the  ancients  as  the  two  foregoing  ani- 
mals ;  yet  very  exact  representations  of  it  have 
been  left  by  the  Romans  in  their  monuments  rela- 
tive to  Egypt,  such  as  the  statue  of  the  Nile,  the 
Prenestine  pavement,  and  a  great  number  of  me- 
dals. It  is  known  that  this  animal  was  frequently 
shown  to  the  Romans,  having  been  exhibited  in 
the  circus  by  Scaurus,  Augustus,  Antoninus,  Corn- 
modus,  Heliogabalus,  Philipt,  and  CarinusJ. 

The  two  species  of  camel,  the  Bactrian  and  Ara- 
bian, were  both  well  known  to  the  ancients,  and 
are  very  well  described  and  characterized  by 
Aristotle.§ 

The  giraffe,  or  camelopardalis,  was  likewise 
known  to  the  ancients,  one  having  been  shown 
alive  in  the  circus  during  the  dictatorship  of  Julius 
Ca3sar,  in  the  year  of  Rome  708.  Ten  of  them 
were  shown  at  once  by  Gordian  III.,  all  of  which 

*  See  the  history  of  the  Rhinoceros  in  my  second  volume, 
f  See  the  history  of  the  Hippopotamus,  in  my  second  volume. 
J  Calphurnii,  Eel  VI.  66. 
\  Hist.  Anim.  lib.  II.  cap.  I.  . ,,  $ 


80  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

were  slain  at  the  secular  games  of  the  emperor 
Philip.* 

. 

When  we  read  with  attention  the  descriptions 
given  of  the  hippopotamus  by  Herodotus  and 
Aristotle,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  bor- 
rowed from  Hecatoeus  of  Miletus,  we  cannot  fail  to 
perceive  that  these  must  have  been  taken  from 
two  very  different  animals ;  one  of  which  is  the 
true  hippopotamus,  and  the  other  the  griou,  or  an- 
telope gnu  of  Gmelin's  edition  of  the  Systema 
Naturae. 

The  aper  cethiopicus  of  Agatharcides,  which  he 
describes  as  having  horns,  is  precisely  the  Ethio- 
pian hog,  or  engallo,  of  Buffbn  and  other  modern 
naturalists,  whose  enormous  tusks  deserve  the 
name  of  horns,  almost  as  much  as  those  of  the  ele- 
phantf 

The  bubalus  and  the  nagor  are  described  by 
Pliny :  the  gazella  by  Elian ;  the  oryx  by  Oppian ; 
and  the  axis,  so  early  as  the  time  of  Ctesias :  all  of 
them  species  of  the  antelope  genus. 

Elian  gives  a  very  good  description  of  the  bos 
grunniens,  or  grunting  ox,  under  the  name  of  the  ox 
having  a  tail  which  serves  for  a  fly-flapper.f 

Jul.  Capitol.  Gord.  III.  cap.  23. 

.  Anim.  V.  27.  {  Id.  XV.  14. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH,  r      Bl 

The  buffalo  was  not  domesticated  by  the  an- 
cients ;  but  the  bos  Indicus,  or  Indian  ox  of  Elian,* 
having  horns  sufficiently  large  to  contain  three  am- 
phorae, was  assuredly  that  variety  of  the  buffalo 
which  is  now  called  the  arnee. 

The  ancients  were  acquainted  with  hornless 
oxen,f  and  with  that  African  variety  of  the  ox 
whose  horns  are  only  fastened  to  the  skin,J  and 
hang  down  dangling  at  the  sides  of  the  head. 
They  also  knew  those  oxen  of  India  which  could 
run  as  swift  as  horses,§  and  those  which  are  so 
small  as  not  to  exceed  the  size  of  a  he-goat.  ||  Sheep 
also  with  broad  tails  were  not  unknown  to  them,% 
and  those  other  Indian  sheep  which  were  as  large 
as  asses.** 

Although  the  accounts  left  us  by  the  ancients 
respecting  the  urus,  or  aurochs,  the  rein-deer,  and 
the  elk,  are  all  mingled  with  fable,  they  are  yet  suffi- 
cient to  prove  that  these  animals  were  not  unknown 
to  them,  but  that  the  reports  which  had  reached 
them  had  been  communicated  by  ignorant  or  bar- 
barous people,  and  had  not  been  corrected  by  the 
actual  observations  of  men  of  learning. 


*  .Elian.  Anim.  III.  34. 
}Id,  11.20. 
Ji  Id.  ibid. 
**  Id.  IV.  32. 


fid.  II.  53. 
^  Id.  XV.  24. 
IT  Id.  III.  S. 


11 


82  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Even  the  white  bear  had  been  seen  in  Egypt 
while  under  the  Ptolemies.* 

Lions  and  panthers  were  quite  common  at  Rome, 
where  they  were  presented  by  hundreds  in  the 
games  of  the  circus.  Even  tigers  had  been  seen 
there,  together  with  the  striped  hyena,  and  the  ni- 
lotic  crocodile.  There  are  still  preserved  in  Rome 
some  ancient  mosaic,  or  tesselated  pavements,  con- 
taining excellent  delineations  of  the  rarest  of  these 
animals ;  among  which  a  striped  hyena  is  very  per- 
fectly represented  in  a  fragment  of  mosaic  in  the 
Vatican  museum.  While  I  was  at  Rome,  a  tesse- 
lated pavement,  composed  of  natural  stones,  ar- 
ranged in  the  Florentine  manner,  was  discovered 
in  a  garden  beside  the  triumphal  arch  of  Galienus, 
which  represented  four  Bengal  tigers  in  a  mo&t 
admirable  manner. 

The  museum  of  the  Vatican  has  the  figure  of 
a  crocodile  in  basalt,  almost  perfectly  represented, 
except  that  it  has  one  claw  too  many  on  the  hind 
feet.  Augustus  at  one  time  presented  thirty-six  of 
these  animals  to  the  view  of  the  people.t 

It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  the  hippotigris  was 
the  zebra,  which  is  now  only  found  in  the  southern 


*  Athenais,  lib.  V.  Dion.  lib.  LV. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  83 

• 

parts  of  Africa.*     Caracalla  killed  one  of  these  in 
the  circus. 

It  might  easily  be  shown  also  that  almost  all  the 
most  remarkable  species  of  the  simice  of  the  old 
world  have  been  distinctly  indicated  by  ancient 
writers  under  the  names  of  pithed,  sphinges,  satyri, 
cephi,  cynocephali,  or  cercopitheci.'f 

They  also  knew  and  have  described  several 
very  small  species  of  gnawers^,  especially  such  of 
that  order  as  possessed  any  peculiar  conformation 
or  remarkable  quality ;  as  we  find,  for  instance, 
the  jerboa  represented  upon  the  medals  of  Cyrene, 
and  indicated  under  the  name  of  mus  bipes,  or  two- 
legged  rat.  But  the  smaller  species  are  not  of 
much  importance  in  regard  to  the  object  before  us, 
and  it  is  quite  sufficient  for  the  inquiry  in  which  we 
are  engaged,  to  have  shown  that  all  the  larger  spe- 
cies of  quadrupeds,  which  possess  any  peculiar  or 
remarkable  character,  and  which  we  know  to  in- 
habit Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  at  the  present  day, 
were  known  to  the  ancients ;  whence  we  may  fairly 
conclude,  that  their  silence  in  respect  to  the  small 

*  Id.  LXXVII,  Compare  also  Gisb.  Cuperi  de  Eleph,  in  nummis 
obyiis.  ex.  II  cap.  7. 

f  See  Lichtenstein,  Comment,  de  Simiarum  quotquot  veteribus  in- 
notuerunt  formis.  Hamburg,  1791. 

\  Cuvier  gives  this  name,  rongeurs,  here  translated  gnaivers,  to  the 
order  denominated  glires  by  Linnaeus,  owing  to  their  fore-teeth  being 
peculiarly  fitted  for  gnawing  the  roots,  barks,  and  stems  of  vegetables. 
— Transl 


^  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

quadrupeds,  and  their  neglect  in  distinguishing  the- 
species  which  very  nearly  resemble  each  other,  as 
the  various  species  of  antelopes  and  of  some  other 
genera,  was  occasioned  by  want  of  attention  and 
ignorance  of  methodical  arrangement,  and  not  by 
any  difficulties  proceeding  from  the  climates  or  dis- 
tance of  the  places  which  these  animals  inhabited. 
We  may  also  conclude  with  equal  certainty,  that  as 
eighteen  or  twenty  centuries  at  the  least,  with  the 
advantages  of  circumnavigating  Africa,  and  of  pe- 
netrating into  all  the  most  distant  regions  of  India, 
have  added  nothing  in  this  portion  of  natural  histo- 
ry to  the  information  left  us  by  the  ancients,  it  is  not 
at  all  probable  that  succeeding  ages  will  add  much 
to  the  knowledge  of  our  posterity. 

'HK.  -.».>.  #*-,  •-«'  vet--  V1*  ••#••  *•  • 

Perhaps  some  persons  may  be  disposed  to  em- 
ploy an  opposite  train  of  argument,  and  to  allege 
that  the  ancients  were  not  only  acquainted  with 
as  many  large  quadrupeds  as  we  are,  as  has  been 
already  shown,  but  that  they  actually  described 
several  others  which  we  do  not  now  know ;  that 
we  are  rash  in  considering  the  accounts  of  all  such 
animals  as  fabulous;  that  we  ought  to  search  for 
them  with  the  utmost  care,  before  concluding  that 
we  have  acquired  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
isting animal  creation;  and,  in  fine,  that  among 
these  animals  which  we  presume  to  be  fabulous, 
we  may  perhaps  discover,  when  better  acquaint- 
ed with  them>  the  actual  originals  of  the  bones  of 
those  species  which  are  now  unknown.  Perhaps 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  85 

some  may  even  conceive  that  the  various  monsters, 
essential  ornaments  of  the  history  of  the  heroic 
ages  of  almost  every  nation,  are  precisely  those 
very  species  which  it  was  necessary  to  destroy, 
in  order  to  allow  the  establishment  of  civilized  so- 
cieties. Thus  Theseus  and  Bellerophon  must 
have  been  more  fortunate  than  all  the  nations  of 
more  modern  days,  who  have  only  been  able  to 
drive  back  the  noxious  animals  into  the  deserts  and 
ill-peopled  regions,  but  have  never  yet  succeeded 
in  exterminating  a  single  species. 

§  26.    Inquiry  respecting    the   Fabulous   Animals   of 
the  Ancients. 

It  is  easy  to  reply  to  the  foregoing  objectioas 
by  examining  the  descriptions  that  are  left  us  by 
the  ancients  of  those  unknown  animals,  and  by  in- 
quiring into  their  origins.  Now  the  greater  num- 
ber of  those  animals  have  an  origin  purely  mythor 
logical,  and  of  this  origin  the  descriptions  given  of 
them  bear  the  most  unequivocal  marks ;  as,  in  al- 
most all  of  them,  we  see  merely  the  different 
parts  of  known  animals  united  by  an  unbridled 
imagination,  and  in  contradiction  to  every  estab- 
lished law  of  nature. 

Those  which  have  been  invented  by  the  poeti- 
cal fancy  of  the  Greeks,  have  at  least  some  grace 
and  elegance  in  their  composition,  resembling  the 
fantastic  decorations  which  are  still  observable  OH 


86  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  ruins  of  some  ancient  buildings,  and  which 
have  been  multiplied  by  the  fertile  genius  of  Ra- 
phael in  his  paintings.  Like  these,  they  unite 
forms  which  please  the  eye  by  agreeable  con- 
tours and  fanciful  combinations,  but  which  are  ut- 
terly repugnant  to  nature  and  reason ;  being  mere- 
ly the  productions  of  inventive  and  playful  genius, 
or  perhaps  meant  as  emblematical  representations 
of  metaphysical  or  moral  propositions,  veiled  un- 
der mystical  hieroglyphics,  after  the  oriental  man- 
ner. Learned  men  may  be  permitted  to  employ 
their  time  and  ingenuity  in  attempts  to  decipher 
the  mystic  knowledge  concealed  under  the  forms 
of  the  sphinx  of  Thebes,  the  pegasus  of  Thessaly, 
the  minotaur  of  Crete,  or  the  chimera  of  Epirus ; 
but  it  would  be  folly  to  expect  seriously  to  find 
such  monsters  in  nature.  We  might  as  well  en- 
deavour to  find  the  animals  of  Daniel,  or  the 
beasts  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  some  hitherto  unex- 
plored recesses  of  the  globe.  Neither  can  we 
look  for  the  mythological  animals  of  the  Persians, 
— creatures  of  a  still  bolder  imagination — such  as 
the  martichore,  or  destroyer  of  men,  having  a  h  u- 
man  head  on  the  body  of  a  lion,  and  the  tail  of  a 
scorpion  ;*  the  griffin,  or  guardian  of  hidden  trea- 
sures, half  eagle  and  half  lion  ;f  or  the  cartazonon, 


*Plin.    VIII.   fll.— Aristot-- Phot.  Bibl.  art.    72.— Ctes.   Indie.— 
./Elian.  Anim.  IV.  21. 
.  Anim. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  87 

or  wild  ass,  armed  with  a  long  horn  on  its  fore- 
head.* 

Ctesias,  who  reports  these  as  actual  living  ani- 
mals, has  been  looked  upon  by  some  authors  as 
an  inventor  of  fables ;  whereas  he  only  attributes 
real  existence  to  hieroglyphical  representations. 
These  strange  compositions  of  fancy  have  been 
seen  in  modern  times  on  the  ruins  of  Persepolis.t 
It  is  probable  that  their  hidden  meanings  may 
never  be  , ascertained;  but  at  all  events  we  are 
quite  certain  that  they  were  never  intended  to  be 
representations  of  real  animals. 

Agatharcides,  another  fabricator  of  animals,  drew 
his  information  in  all  probability  from  a  similar 
source.  The  ancient  monuments  of  Egypt  still 
furnish  us  with  numerous  fantastic  representations, 
in  which  the  parts  of  different  kinds  of  creatures 
are  strangely  combined — men  with  the  heads  of 
animals,  and  animals  with  the  heads  of  men; 
which  have  given  rise  to  cynocephali,  satyrs,  and 
sphinxes.  The  custom  of  exhibiting  in  the  same 
sculpture,  in  bas-relief,  men  of  very  different 
heights,  of  making  kings  and  conquerors  gigantic, 
while  their  subjects  and  vassals  are  represented 
as  only  a  fourth  or  fifth  part  of  their  size,  must 


*  Id.  XVI.  20.— Photii  Bibl.  art. .72— Ctes.  Indie. 
f  Le  Brun.  Voy.  to  Muscovy,  Persia,  and  India,  vol.  II.    See  alse 
the  German  work  by  M.  Heeren,  on  the  Commerce  of  the^Ancients. 


88  -THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

have  given  rise  to  the  fable  of  the  pigmies.  In 
some  corner  of  these  monuments,  Agatharcides 
must  have  discovered  his  carnivorous  bull,  whose 
mouth,  extending  from  ear  to  ear,  devoured  every 
other  animal  that  came  in  his  way.*  But  no  na- 
turalist scarcely  will  acknowledge  the  existence 
of  any  such  animal,  since  nature  has  never  joined 
cloven  hoofs  and  horns  with  teeth  adapted  for  cut- 
ting and  devouring  animal  food. 

There  may  have  been  many  other  figures  equally 
strange  with  these,  either  among  those  monuments 
of  Egypt  which  have  not  been  able  to  resist  the  ra- 
vages of  time,  or  in  the  ancient  temples  of  Ethio- 
pia and  Arabia,  which  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
religious  zeal  of  the  Abyssinians  and  Mahometans. 
The  monuments  of  India  teem  with  such  figures; 
but  the  combinations  in  these  are  so  ridiculously 
extravagant,  that  they  have  never  imposed  even 
upon  the  most  credulous.  Monsters  with  an  hun- 
dred arms,  and  twenty  heads  of  different  kinds, 
are  far  too  absurd  to  be  believed. 

Nay,  the  inhabitants  of  China  and  Japan  have 
their  imaginary  animals,  which  they  represent  as 
*eal,  and  that  too  in  their  religious  books.  The 
Mexicans  had  them.  In  short,  they  are  to  be  found 
among  every  people  whose  idolatry  has  not  yet  ac- 


*  Phot  Bibl.  art.  250.— -Agarthacid.  Excerp.  Hist,  cap  39.— 
Amm.  XVII.  45— PKn.  VIII,  gl. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  89 

quired  some  degree  of  refinement.  But  is  there 
any  one  who  could  possibly  pretend  to  discover, 
amidst  the  realities  of  animal  nature,  what  are  thus 
so  plainly  the  productions  of  ignorance  and  super- 
stition? And  yet  some  travellers,  influenced  by  a 
desire  to  make  themselves  famous,  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  pretend  that  they  saw  these  fancied  be- 
ings; or,  deceived  by  a  slight  resemblance,  into 
which  they  were  too  careless  to  inquire,  they  have 
identified  these  with  creatures  that  actually  exist. 
In  their  eyes,  large  baboons,  or  monkeys,  have  be- 
come cynocephali,  and  sphinxes,  real  men  writh  long 
tails.  It  is  thus  that  St.  Augustin  imagined  he  had 
seen  a  satyr. 

Real  animals,  observed  and  described  with  equal 
inaccuracy,  may  have  given  rise  to  some  of  these 
ideal  monsters.  Thus,  we  can  have  no  doubt  of 
the  existence  of  the  hyena,  although  the  back  of 
this  animal  be  not  supported  by  a  single  bone,  and 
although  it  does  not  change  its  sex  yearly,  as  al- 
leged by  Pliny.  Perhaps  the  carnivorous  bull  may 
only  have  been  the  two-horned  rhinoceros,  falsely 
described.  M.  de  Weltheim  considers  the  auri- 
ferous ants  of  Herodotus  as  the  corsacs*  of  modern 
naturalists. 

*  '•  '    v- 

The  most  famous  among  these  fabulous  animals 
of  the  ancients  was  the  unicorn.     Its  real  existence 


*  The  Korsake,  or  Corsac  fox  of  Pallas  and  Pennant— Transl. 

12 


90  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

has  been  obstinately  asserted  even  in  the  present 
day,  or  at  least  proofs  of  its  existence  have  been 
eagerly  sought  for.  Three  several  animals  are 
frequently  mentioned  by  the  ancients  as  having  only 
one  horn  placed  on  the  middle  of  the  forehead. 
The  oryx  of  Africa,  having  cloven  hoofs,  the  hair 
placed  reversely  to  that  of  other  animals,*  its 
height  equal  to  that  of  the  bull,t  or  even  of  the 
rhinoceros,J  and  said  to  resemble  deer  and  goats 
in  its  form  ;§>  the  Indian  ass,  having  solid  hoofs ;  and 
the  monoceros,  properly  so  called,  whose  feet  are 
sometimes  compared  to  those  of  the  lion,||  and 
sometimes  to  those  of  the  elephant,1[  and  is  there- 
fore considered  as  having  divided  feet.  The  horse 
unicorn**  and  the  bull  unicorn  are  doubtless  both 
referable  to  the  Indian  ass,  for  even  the  latter  is 
described  as  having  solid  hoofs.ft  We  may  there- 
fore be  fully  assured  that  these  animals  have  never 
really  existed,  as  no  solitary  horns  have  ever  found 
their  way  into  our  collections,  excepting  those  of 
the  rhinoceros  and  narwal. 

After  careful  consideration,  it  is  impossible  that 
we  should  give  any  credit  to  rude  sketches  made 
by  savages  upon  rocks.  Entirely  ignorant  of 


*  Aristot.  Anim.  II.  1.  and  III.  2.— Plin.  XL  46. 

t  Herodot  IV.  192.  J  Oppian,  Cyneg.  II.  vers.  551, 

^  Plin.  VIII.  53.  ||  Philostrog.  III.  ii. 

IT  Plin.  VIII.  21. 

**  Onesecrit.  ap.  Strab.  lib.  XV,— .Man.  Anim.XJIL.4^ 

ft  See  Pliny  and  Solinus, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EAnTH.  91 

perspective,  and  wishing  to  represent  the  out- 
lines of  a  straight  horned  antelope  in  profile,  they 
could  only  give  the  figure  one  horn,  and  thus  they 
^produced  an  oryx.  The  oryxes,  too,  that  are  seen 
on  the  Egyptian  monuments,  are  nothing  more, 
probably,  than  productions  of  the  stiff  style,  im- 
posed on  the  sculptors  of  the  country  by  religious 
prejudices.  Several  of  their  profiles  of  quadru- 
peds show  only  one  fore  and  one  hinder  leg,  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  same  rule  led  them  also  to 
represent  only  one  horn.  Perhaps  their  figures 
may  have  been  copied  after  individuals  that  had 
lost  one  of  their  horns  by  accident,  a  circumstance 
that  often  happens  to  the  chamois  and  the  saiga, 
species  of  the  antelope  genus,  and  this  would  be 
quite  sufficient  to  establish  the  error.  All  the  an- 
cients, however,  have  not  represented  the  oryx  as 
having  only  one  horn.  Oppian  expressly  attributes 
two  to  this  animal,  and  ^Elian  mentions  one  that 
had  four.*  Finally,  if  this  animal  was  ruminant 
and  cloven-footed,  we  are  quite  certain  that  its 
frontal  bone  must  have  been  divided  longitudinally 
into  two,  and  that  it  could  not  possibly,  as  it  is 
very  justly  remarked  by  Camper,  have  had  a  horn 
placed  upon  the  suture. 

It  may  be  asked,  however,  What  two*horned  ani- 
mals could  have  given  an  idea  of  the  ory#,  in  the 
forms  in  which  it  has  been  transmitted  down  to  us, 

*  JElian,  Anim.  XV.  14. 


02  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  4 

even  independent  of  the  notion  of  a  single  horn  ? 
To  this  I  answer,  as  already  done  by  Pallas,  that  it 
was  the  straight-horned  antelope  oryx  of  Gmelin, 
improperly  named  pasan  by  Buffon.  This  animal 
inhabits  the  deserts  of  Africa,  and  must  frequently 
approach  the  confines  of  Egypt,  and  appears  to  be 
that  which  is  represented  in  the  hieroglyphics. 
It  equals  the  ox  in  height,  while  the  shape  of  its 
body  approaches  to  that  of  a  stag,  and  its  straight 
horns  present  exceedingly  formidable  weapons, 
hard  almost  as  iron,  and  sharp-pointed  like  javelins. 
Its  hair  is  whitish ;  it  has  black  spots  and  streaks 
on  its  face,  and  the  hair  on  its  back  points  forwards. 
Such  is  the  description  given  by  naturalists ;  and 
the  fables  of  the  Egyptian  priests,  which  have  oc- 
casioned the  insertion  of  its  figure  among  their 
hieroglyphics,  do  not  require  to  have  been  found- 
ed in  nature.  Supposing  that  an  individual  of  this 
species  may  have  been  seen  which  had  lost  one  of 
its  horns  by  some  accident,  it  may  have  been  taken 
as  a  representative  of  the  entire  race,  and  errone- 
ously adopted  by  Aristotle  to  be  copied  by  all  his 
successors.  All  this  is  quite  possible  and  even  na- 
tural, and  gives  not  the  smallest  evidence  for  the 
existence  of  a  single-horned  species  of  antelope. 

In  regard  to  the  Indian  ass,  of  the  alexipharmic 
virtues  of  whose  horn  the  ancients  speak,  we  find 
the  eastern  nations  of  the  present  day  attributing 
exactly  the  same  properties  of  counteracting  poi- 
son to  the  horn  of  the  rhinoceros.  When  this  horn 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  93 

was  first  imported  into  Greece,  nothing  probably  was 
known  respecting  the  animal  to  which  it  belong- 
ed ;  and  accordingly  it  was  not  known  to  Aristotle. 
Agatharcides  is  the  first  author  by  whom  it  is  men- 
tioned. In  the  same  mariner,  ivory  was  known  to 
the  ancients  long  before  the  animal  from  which  it 
is  procured ;  and  perhaps  some  of  their  travellers 
may  have  given  to  the  rhinoceros  the  name  of  In- 
dian ass,  with  as  much  propriety  as  the  Romans  de- 
nominated the  elephant  the  bull  of  Lucania.  Every 
thing  which  they  relate  of  the  strength,  size,  and 
ferocity  of  their  wild  ass  of  India,  corresponds  suf- 
ficiently with  the  rhinoceros.  In  succeeding  times, 
when  the  rhinoceros  came  to  be  better  known  to 
naturalists,  finding  that  former  authors  mentioned 
a  single-horned  animal  under  the  name  of  Indian 
ass,  they  concluded,  without  any  examination,  that 
it  must  be  quite  a  distinct  creature,  having  solid 
hoofs.  We  have  remaining  a  detailed  description 
of  the  Indian  ass,  written  by  Ctesias;*  but,  as  we 
have  already  seen  that  this  must  have  been  taken 
from  the  ruins  of  Persepolis,  it  should  go  for  no- 
thing in  the  real  history  of  the  animal. 

When  there  afterwards  appeared  more  exact 
descriptions  of  an  animal  having  several  toes  or 
hoofs  on  each  foot,  the  ancients  conceived  it  to  be 
a  third  species  of  one-horned  animals,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  monoceros.  The^e  double, 

*JElian.Anim.  IV.  32. 


94  THEORY   OF  THE  EARTH. 

and  even  triple  references,  are  more  frequent 
among  ancient  writers,  because  most  of  their  works 
which  have  come  down  to  us  were  mere  compila- 
tions ;  because  even  Aristotle  himself  has  often 
mixed  borrowed  facts  with  those  which  had  come 
under  his  own  observation;  and  because  the  habit  of 
critically  investigating  the  authorities  of  previous 
writers,  was  as  little  known  among  ancient  natu- 
ralists as  among  their  historians. 

From  all  these  reasonings  and  digressions,  it  may 
be  fairly  concluded,  that  the  large  animals  of  the 
ancient  continent  with  which  we  are  now  acquaint- 
ed, were  known  to  the  ancients ;  and  that  all  the 
animals  of  which  the  ancients  have  left  descrip- 
tions, and  which  are  now  unknown,  were  merely 
fabulous.  It  also  follows,  that  the  large  animals  of 
the  three  anciently  known  quarters  of  the  world, 
were  very  soon  known  to  the  people  who  frequent- 
ed their  coasts. 

It  may  also  be  concluded,  that  no  large  species 
remain  to  be  discovered  in  America,  as  there  is  no 
good  reason  that  can  be  assigned  why  any  such 
should  exist  in  that  country  with  which  we  are  un- 
acquainted, and  in  fact  none  has  been  discovered 
there  during  the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The 
tapir,  jaguar,  puma,  cabiai  or  capibara,  glama,  vi- 
cunna,  red-wolf,  buffalo,  or  American  bison,  ant- 
eaters,  sloths,  and  armadillos,  are  all  contained  in 
the  works  of  Margrave  and  Hernandez,  as  well 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH, 

described  as  in  BufFon  and  even  better,  for  Buffbri 
has  mistaken  and  confused  the  natural  history  of 
the  ant-eaters,  has  mixed  the  description  of  the 
jaguar  with  that  ojf  the  red  wolf,  and  has  confound- 
ed the  American  bison  with  the  aurochs,  or  urus, 
of  Poland.  Pennant,  it  is  true,  was  the  first  natu- 
ralist who  clearly  distinguished  the  musk  ox ;  but 
it  had  been  long  mentioned  by  travellers.  The 
cloven-footed,  or  Chilese,  horse  of  Molina,  has  not 
been  described  by  any  of  the  early  Spanish  travel- 
lers, but  its  existence  is  more  than  doubtful,  and 
the  authority  of  Molina  is  too  suspicious  to  entitle 
us  to  believe  that  this  animal  actually  exists.  The 
Muflon  of  the  blue  mountains  is  the  only  American 
quadruped  of  any  size  hitherto  known,  of  whick 
the  discovery  is  entirely  modern;  and  perhaps  it 
may  only  have  been  an  argali,  that  had  strayed  from 

eastern  Siberia  over  the  ice.* 

• 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  conceive  that  the  enormous  mastedontes  and  gi- 
gantic megatheriarf  whose  bones  have  been  disco- 
vered under  ground  in  North  and  South  America, 


*  The  argali  had  long  before  been  mentioned  by  writers  as  inhabit- 
ing Kamtschatka,  the  Kurili  islands,  and  probably  the  north-west 
coast  of  America  and  California. — Transl. 

t  These  are  new  names  devised  to  characterize  the  animals  of  whieh 
the  bones  and  teeth  have  been  found  in  large  quantities  in  America, 
both  in  Virginia,  on  the  banks  of  ths  Ohio,  and  in  Chili  and  Peru. 


96  THEORY    OF  THE  EARTH. 

can  still  exist  alive  in  that  quarter  of  the  world, 
They  could  not  fail  to  be  observed  by  the  hunting 
tribes,  which  continually  wander  in  all  directions 
through  the  wilds  of  America.  Indeed  they  them- 
selves seem  to  be  fully  aware  that  these  animals 
no  longer  exist  in  their  country,  as  they  have  in- 
vented a  fabulous  account  of  their  destruction,  al- 
leging that  they  were  all  killed  by  the  Great  Spirit, 
to  prevent  them  from  extirpating  the  human  race. 
It  is  quite  obvious  that  this  fable  has  been  invented 
subsequently  to  the  discovery  of  the  bones;  just 
as  tjie  inhabitants  of  Siberia  have  contrived  one 
respecting  the  mammoth,  whose  bones  have  been 
found  in  that  country,  alleging  that  it  still  lives  un- 
der ground  like  the  mole:  and  just  as  the  ancients 
had  their  fables  about  the  graves  of  giants,  who 
were  thought  to  have  been  buried  wherever  the 
bones  of  elephants  happened  to  be  dug  up. 

From  all  these  considerations,  it  may  be  safely 
concluded,  as  shall  be  more  minutely  explained  in 
the  sequel, — That  none  of  the  large  species  of  qua- 
drupeds, whose  remains  are  now  found  imbedded 
in  regular  rocky  strata,  are  at  all  similar  to  any  of 
the  known  living  species : — That  this  circumstance 
is  by  no  means  the  mere  effect  of  chance,  or  be- 
cause the  species  to  which  these  fossil  bones  have 
belonged  are  still  concealed  in  the  desert  and  unin- 
habited parts  of  the  world,  and  have  hitherto  es- 
caped the  observation  of  travellers ;  but,-^-That 
this  astonishing  phenomenon  has  proceeded  from 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  &7 

general  causes,  and  that  the  careful  investigation 
of  it  affords  one  of  the  best  means  for  discovering 
and  explaining  the  nature  of  these  causes. 

§  27.  Of  the  Difficulty  of  distinguishing  the  Fossil 
Bones  of  Quadrupeds. 


thp  study  of  the  fossil  remains  of  the 
greater  quadrupeds  is  more  satisfactory,  by  the 
clear  results  which  it  affords,  than  that  of  the  re- 
mains of  other  animals  found  in  a  fossil  state,  it  is 
also  complicated  with  greater  and  more  numerous 
difficulties.  Fossil  shells  are  usually  found  quite 
entire,  and  retaining  all  the  characters  requisite 
for  comparing  them  with  the  specimens  contained 
in  collections  of  natural  history,  or  represented  in 
the  works  of  naturalists.  Even  the  skeletons  of 
fishes  are  found  more  or  less  entire,  so  that  the 
general  forms  of  their  bodies  can,  for  the  most 
part,  be  ascertained,  and  usually,  at  least,  their  ge- 
neric and  specific  characters  are  determinable,  as 
these  are  mostly  drawn  from  their  solid  parts.  In 
quadrupeds,  on  the  contrary,  even  when  their  en- 
tire skeletons  are  found,  there  is  great  difficulty  in 
discovering  their  distinguishing  characters,  as  these 
are  chiefly  founded  upon  their  hair  and  colours, 
and  other  marks  which  have  disappeared  previous 
to  their  incrustation.  It  is  also  very  rare  to  find 
any  fossil  skeletons  of  quadrupeds  in  any  degree 
approaching  to  a  comple  state,  as  the  strata  for  the 
most  part  only  contain  separate  bones,  scattered 

13 


,  .,.  % 


98  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Confusedly,  and  almost  always  broken  and  reduced 
to  fragments,  which  are  the  only  means  left  to 
naturalists  for  ascertaining  the  species  or  genera  to 
which  they  have  belonged. 

It  may  be  stated  also,  that  most  observers,  alarm- 
ed by  these  formidable  difficulties,  have  passed 
slightly  over  the  foeeil  remains  of  quadrupeds,  and 
iiave  satisfied  themselves  with  classing  them  vague- 
ly, by  means  of  slight  resemblances,  or  have  not 
even  pretended  to  give  them  names.  Hence  this 
portion  of  the  history  of  extraneous  fossils,  though 
the  most  important  and  most  instructive,  has  been 
investigated  with  less  care  than  any  other.* 

Fortunately,  comparative  anatomy,  when  tho- 
roughly understood,  enables  us  to  surmount  all 
these  difficulties,  as  a  careful  application  of  its 
principles  instructs  us  in  the  correspondence  and 
dissimilarity  of  the  forms  of  organized  bodies  of 
different  kinds,  by  which  "each  may  be  rigorously 
ascertained,  from  almost  every  fragment  of  its  va- 
rious parts  and  organs. 

Every  organized  individual  forms  an  entire  sys- 

*AsI  have  already  remarked  on  a  former  occasion,  it  is  not  my 
intention,  by  these  observations,  to  detract  from  the  merits  of  Cam- 
per, Pallas,  Blumenbach,  Scemmering,  Merk,  Faujas,  Rosenmuller, 
and  other  naturalists,  in  regard  to  extraneous  fossils :  But,  though 
their  observations  have  been  of  great  value  in  my  researches,  and  are 
quoted  by  me  hi  every  stop,  they  are  in  general  very  incomplete. 


."*;  <.  ..- 


*... 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  " 

lem  of  its  own,  all  the  parts  of  which  mutually  cor- 
respond, and  concur  to  produce  a  certain  definite 
purpose,  by  reciprocal  reaction,  or  by  combining 
towards  the  same  end.  Hence  none  of  these  se- 
parate parts  can  change  their  forms  without  a 
corresponding  change  on  the  other  parts  of  the 
same  animal,  and  consequently  each  of  these  parts, 
taken  separately,  indicates  all  the  other  parts  to 
which  it  has  belonged.  Thus,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
shown,  if  the  viscera  of  an  animal  are  so  organ- 
ized as  only  to  be  fitted  for  the  digestion  of  recent 
flesh,  it  is  also  requisite  that  the  jaws  should  be  so 
constructed  as  to  fit  them  for  devouring  prey;  the 
claws  must  be  constructed  for  seizing  and  tearing 
it  to  pieces ;  the  teeth  for  cutting  and  dividing  its 
flesh ;  the  entire  system  of  the  limbs,  or  organs  of 
motion,  for  pursuing  and  overtaking  it;  and  the 
organs  of  sense,  for  discovering  it  at  a  distance. 
Nature  also  must  have  endowed  the  brain  of  the 
animal  with  instincts  sufficient  for  concealing  itself, 
and  for  laying  plans  to  catch  its  necessary  victims. 

Such  are  the  universal  conditions  that  are  in- 
dispensable in  the  structure  of  carnivorous  ani- 
mals; and  every  individual  of  that  description 
must  necessarily  possess  them  combined  together, 
as  the  species  could  not  otherwise  subsist.  Under 
this  general  rule,  however,  there  are  several  par- 
ticular modifications,  depending  upon  the  size, 
the  manners,  and  the  haunts  of  the  prey  for  which 
each  species  of  carnivorous  animal  is  destined  or 


100  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

fitted  by  nature ;  and,  from  each  of  these  particular 
modifications,  there  result  certain  differences  in 
the  more  minute  conformations  of  particular  parts, 
all,  however,  conformable  to  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  structure  already  mentioned.  Hence  it 
follows,  that  in  every  one  of  their  parts  we  dis- 
cover distinct  indications,  not  only  of  the  classes 
and  orders  of  animals,  but  also  of  their  genera, 
and  even  of  their  species. 

In  fact,  in  order  that  the  jaw  may  be  well  adapt- 
ed for  laying  hold  of  objects,  it  is  necessary  that 
its  condyle  should  have  a  certain  form  ;  that  the 
resistance,  the  moving  power,  and  the  fulcrum, 
should  have  a  certain  relative  position  with  res- 
pect to  each  other ;  and  that  the  temporal  mus- 
cles should  be  of  a  certain  size ;  The  hollow  or 
depression,  too,  in  which  these  muscles  are  lodged, 
must  have  a  certain  depth ;  and  the  zygomatic 
arch  under  which  they  pass  must  not  only  have  a 
certain  degree  of  convexity,  but  it  must  be  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  support  the  action  of  the  masseter. 

To  enable  the  animal  to  carry  off  its  prey  when 
seized,  a  corresponding  force  is  requisite  in  the 
muscles  which  elevate  the  head ;  and  this  neces- 
sarily gives  rise  to  a  determinate  form  of  the  ver- 
tebrae to  which  these  muscles  are  attached,  ancj 
of  the  occiput  into  which  they  are  inserted. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  '          101 


In  order  that  the  teeth  of  a  carnivores  animaf 
maybe  able  to  cut  the  flesh,  they  r^qiiir^'tcv'b^  \\\\  A 
sharp,  more  or  less  so  in  proportibn  to 'the 'greater 
or  less  quantity  of  flesh  that  they  have  to  cut.  It 
is  requisite  that  their  roots  should  be  solid  and 
strong,  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  and  the  size 
of  the  bones  which  they  have  to  break  to  pieces. 
The  whole  of  these  circumstances  must  necessarily 
influence  the  developement  and  form  of  all  the 
parts  which  contribute  to  move  the  jaws. 

To  enable  the  claws  of  a  carnivorous  animal  to 
seize  its  prey,  a  considerable  degree  of  mobility  is 
necessary  in  their  paws  and  toes,  and  a  considera- 
ble strength  in  the  claws  themselves.     From  these 
circumstances,  there  necessarily  result  certain  de- 
terminate forms  in  all  the  bones  of  their  paws,  and 
in  the  distribution  of  the  muscles  and  tendons  bj 
which  they  are  moved.     The  fore-arm  must  pos- 
sess a  certain  facility  of  moving  in  various  direc- 
tions, and  consequently  requires  certain  determi- 
nate forms  in  the  bones  of  which  it  is  composed. 
As  the  bones  of  the  fore-arm  are  articulated  with 
the  arm-bone   or  humerus,   no   change  can  take 
place  in  the  form  and  structure  of  the  former  with- 
out occasioning  correspondent  changes  in  the  form 
of  the  latter.     The  shoulder  blade  also,  or  scapu- 
la, requires  a  correspondent  degree  of  strength  in 
all  animals  destined  for  catching  prey,  by  which  it 
likewise    must    necessarily  have  an   appropriate 
form.     The  play  and  action  of  all  these  parts  re- 


102  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

quire  i^rfairi  proportions  in  the  muscles  which  set 
'•ttienrJiJ  mo.tioiiv  and  the  impressions  formed  by 
iiiese  -lAH^oies  cmust  still  farther  determine  the 
forms  of  all  these  bones. 

After  these  observations,  it  will  be  easily  seen 
that  similar  conclusions  may  be  drawn  with  respect 
to  the  hinder  limbs  of  carnivorous  animals,  which 
require  particular  conformations  to  fit  them  for  rar 
pidity  of  motion  in  general  ;  and  that  similar  con- 
siderations must  influence  the  forms  and  connexions 
of  the  vertebrae  and  other  bones  constituting  the 
trunk  of  the  body,  to  fit  them  for  flexibility  and 
readiness  of  motion  in  all  directions.  The  bones 
also  of  the  nose,  of  the  orbit,  and  of  the  ears,  re- 
quire certain  forms  and  structures  to  fit  them  for 
giving  perfection  to  the  senses  of  smell,  sight,  and 
hearing,  so  necessary  to  animals  of  prey.  In  short, 
the  shape  and  structure  of  the  teeth  regulate  the 
forms  of  the  condyle,  of  the  shoulder-blade,  and 
of  the  claws,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  equation 
of  a  curve  regulates  all  its  other  properties;  and, 
as  in  regard  to  any  particular  curve,  all  its  proper- 
ties may  be  ascertained  by  assuming  each  separate 
property  as  the  foundation  of  a  particular  equa- 
tion; in  the  same  manner,  a  claw,  a  shoulder- 
blade,  a  condyle,  a  leg  or  arm  bone,  or  any  other 
bone  separately  considered,  enables  us  to  discover 
the  description  of  teeth  to  which  they  have  be- 
longed; and  so  also  reciprocally  we  may  determine 
the  forms  of  the  other  bones  from  the  teeth.  Thus, 


' 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  103 

commencing  our  investigation  by  a  careful  survey 
of  any  one  bone  by  itself,  a  person  who  is  suffi- 
ciently master  of  the  laws  of  organic  structure, 
may,  as  it  were,  reconstruct  the  whole  animal  to 
which  that  bone  had  belonged. 

This  principle  is  sufficiently  evident,  in  its  gene- 
ral acceptation,  not  to  require  any  more  minute 
demonstration ;  but  when  it  comes  to  be  applied 
in  practice,  there  is  a  great  number  of  cases  in 
which  our  theoretical  knowledge  of  these  relations 
of  forms  is  not  sufficient  to  guide  us,  unless  assisted 
by  observation  and  experience. 

For  example,  we  are  well  aware  that  all  hoofed 
animals  must  necessarily  be  herbivorous,  because 
they  are  possessed  of  no  means  of  seizing  upon 
prey.  It  is  also  evident,  having  no  other  use  for 
their  fore-legs  than  to  support  their  bodies,  that 
they  have  no  occasion  for  a  shoulder  so  vigorously 
organized  as  that  of  carnivorous  animals ;  owing 
to  which,  they  have  no  clavicles  or  accromion  pro- 
cesses, and  their  shoulder-blades  are  proportion- 
ally narrow.  Having  also  no  occasion  to  turn  their 
fore-arms,  their  radius  is  joined  by  ossification  to 
the  ulna,  or  is  at  least  articulated  by  gynglymus 
with  the  humerus.  Their  food,  being  entirely  her- 
baceous, requires  teeth  with  flat  surfaces,  on  pur- 
pose to  bruise  the  seeds  and  plants  on  which  they 
feed.  For  this  purpose  also,  these  surfaces  require 
to  be  unequal,  and  are  consequently  composed  of 


•^;;:-«: 
•".*'  '..-**« 


104  THEORY  OF  THE  EARtH. 

alternate  perpendicular  layers  of  hard  enamel  and 
softer  bone.  Teeth  of  this  structure  necessarily 
require  horizontal  motions,  to  enable  them  to  tritu- 
rate or  grind  down  the  herbaceous  food  j  and,  ac- 
cordingly, the  condyles  of  the  jaw  could  not  be 
formed  into  such  confined  joints  as  in  the  carnivo- 
rous animals,  but  must  have  a  flattened  form,  cor- 
respondent to  sockets  in  the  temporal  bones,  which 
also  are  more  or  less  flat  for  their  reception.  The 
hollows  likewise  of  the  temporal  bones.,  having 
sinaller  muscles  to  contain,  are  narrower,  and  not 
so  deep,  &c.  All  these  circumstances  are  deduci- 
ble  from  each  other,  according  to  their  greater  or 
less  generality,  and  in  such  manner  that  some  are 
essentially  and  exclusively  appropriated  to  hoofed 
quadrupeds,  while  other  circumstances,  though 
equally  necessary  to  that  description  of  animals, 
are  not  exclusively  so,  but  may  be  found  in  animals 
of  other  descriptions,  where  other  conditions  per- 
mit or  require  their  existence. 

When  wre  proceed  to  consider  the  different  or- 
ders or  subdivisions  of  the  class  of  hoofed  ani- 
mals, and  examine  the  modifications  to  which  the 
general  conditions  are  liable,  or  rather  the  particu- 
lar conditions  which  are  conjoined,  according  to 
the  respective  characters  of  the  several  subdivi- 
sions, the  reasons  upon  which  these  particular  con- 
ditions or  rules  of  conformation  are  founded  become 
less  evident.  We  can  easily  conceive,  in  general,  the 
necessity  of  a  more  complicated  system  of  diges- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH,  105 

tive  organs  in  those  species-  which  have  less  per- 
fect masticatory  systems ;  and  hence  we  may  pre- 
sume that  these  latter  animals  require  especially 
to  be  ruminant,  which  are  in  want  of  such  or  such 
kinds  of  teeth;  and  may  also  deduce,  from  the 
same  considerations,  the  necessity  of  a  certain 
conformation  of  the  esophagus,  and  of  correspond- 
ing forms  in  the  vertebrae  of  the  neck,  &c.  But  1 
doubt  whether  it  would  have  been  discovered,  in- 
dependently of  actual  observation,  that  ruminant 
animals  should  all  have  cloven  hoofs,  and  that  they 
should  be  the  only  animals  having  that  particular 
conformation;  that  the  ruminant  animals  only 
should  be  provided  with  horns  on  their  foreheads ; 
that  those  among  them  which  have  sharp  tusks,  or 
canine  teeth,  should  want  horns,  &c. 

As  all  these  relative  conformations  are  constant 
and  regular,  we  may  be  assured  that  they  depend 
upon  some  sufficient  cause;  and,  since  we  are  not 
acquainted  with  that  cause,  we  must  here  supply 
the  defect  of  theory  by  observation*  and  in  this 
way  lay  down  empirical  rules  on  the  subject,  which 
are  almost  as  certain  as  those  deduced  from  ra- 
tional principles,  especially  if  established  upon 
careful  and  repeated  observation.  Hence,  any 
one  who  observes  merely  the  print  of  a  cloven 
hoof,  may  conclude  that  it  has  been  left  by  a  rumi- 
nant animal,  and  regard  the  conclusion  as  equally 
certain  with  any  other  in  physics  or  in  morals. 
Consequently,  this  single  foot-mark  clearly  ijidi- 

14 


106  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

cates  to  the  observer  the  forms  of  the  teeth,  of  the 
jaws,  of  the  vertebrae,  of  all  the  leg-bones,  thighs, 
shoulders,  and  of  the  trunk  of  the  body  of  the  ani- 
mal which  left  the  mark.  It  is  much  surer  than  all 
the  marks  of  Zadig.  Observation  alone,  indepen- 
dent entirely  of  general  principles  of  philosophy, 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  there  certainly  are  secret 
reasons  for  all  these  relations  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking.  <v fi 

When  we  have  established  a  general  system  of 
these  relative  conformations  of  animals,  we  not 
only  discover  specific  constancy,  if  the  expression 
may  be  allowed,  between  certain  forms  of  certain 
organs,  and  certain  other  forms  of  different  organs ; 
we  can  also  perceive  a  classified  constancy  of  con- 
formation, and  a  correspondent  gradation  between 
these  two  sets  of  organs,  which  demonstrate  their 
mutual  influence  upon  each  other,  almost  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  most  perfect  deduction  of  reason. 
For  example,  the  masticatory  system  is  generally 
more  perfect  in  the  non-ruminant  hoofed  quadru- 
peds than  it  is  in  the  cloven-hoofed  or  ruminant 
quadrupeds ;  as  the  former  possess  incisive  teeth, 
or  tusks,  or  almost  always  both  of  these,  in  both 
jaws.  The  structure  also  of  their  feet  is  in  general 
more  complicated,  having  a  greater  number  of  toes, 
or  their  phalanges  less  enveloped  in  the  hoof,  or  a 
greater  number  of  distinct  metacarpal  and  metatar- 
sal  bones,  or  more  numerous  tarsal  bones,  or  the 
fibula  more  completely  distinct  from  the  tibia :  or, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  107 

finally,  that  all  these  enumerated  circumstances 
are  often  united  in  the  same  species  of  animal. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  assign  reasons  for  these 
relations ;  but  we  are  certain  that  they  are  not 
produced  by  mere  chance,  because,  whenever  a 
cloven-hoofed  animal  has  any  resemblance  in  the 
arrangement  of  its  teeth  to  the  animals  we  now 
speak  of,  it  has  the  resemblance  to  them  also  in  the 
arrangement  of  its  feet.  Thus  camels,  which  have 
tusks,  and  also  two  or  four  incisive  teeth  in  the  up- 
per jaw,  have  one  additional  bone  in  the  tarsus, 
their  scaphoid  and  cuboid  bones  not  being  united 
into  one  ;  and  have  also  very  small  hoofs,  with  cor- 
responding phalanges,  or  toe-bones.  The  musk 
animals,  whose  tusks  are  remarkably  conspicuous, 
have  a  distinct  fibula  as  long  as  the  tibia ;  while 
the  other  cloven-footed  animals  have  only  a  small 
bone  articulated  at  the  lower  end  of  the  tibia,  in 
place  of  a  fibula.  We  have  thus  a  constant  mutual 
relation  between  the  organs  or  conformations, 
which  appear  to  have  no  kind  of  connexion  with 
each  other ;  and  the  gradations  of  their  forms  in- 
variably correspond,  even  in  those  cases  in  which 
we  cannot  give  the  rationale  of  their  relations. 

By  thus  employing  the  method  of  observation, 
where  theory  is  no  longer  able  to  direct  our  views, 
we  procure  astonishing  results.  The  smallest  frag- 
ment of  bone,  even  the  most  apparently  insignifi- 
cant apophysis,  possesses  a  fixed  and  determinate 


108  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

character,  relative  to  the  class,  order,  genus,  and 
species  of  the  animal  to  which  it  belonged ;  inso- 
much, that,  when  we  find  merely  the  extremity  of  a 
well-preserved  bone,  we  are  able,  by  careful  ex- 
amination, assisted  by  analogy  and  exact  compari- 
son, to  determine  the  species  to  which  it  once  be- 
longed, as  certainly  as  if  we  had  the  entire  animal 
before  us.  Before  venturing  to  put  entire  confi- 
dence in  this  method  of  investigation,  in  regard  to 
fossil  bones,  I  have  very  frequently  tried  it  with 
portions  of  bones  belonging  to  well-known  animals, 
and  always  with  such  complete  success,  that  I  now 
entertain  no  doubt  with  regard  to  the  results  which 
it  affords.  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  enjoy  every 
kind  of  advantage  for  such  investigations  that 
could  possibly  be  of  use,  by  my  fortunate  situation 
in  the  Museum  of  Natural  History ;  and,  by  assi- 
duous researches  for  nearly  fifteen  years,  I  have 
collected  skeletons  of  all  the  genera  and  sub-gene- 
ra of  quadrupeds,  with  those  of  many  species  in 
some  of  the  genera,  and  even  of  several  varieties 
of  some  species.  With  these  aids,  I  have  found  it 
easy  to  multiply  comparisons,  and  to  verify,  in 
every  point  of  view,  the  application  of  the  forego- 
ing rules. 

We  cannot,  in  the  present  Essay,  enter  into  a 
more  lengthened  detail  of  this  method,  and  must 
refer  for  its  entire  explanation  to  the  large  work 
on  Comparative  Anatomy,  which  we  propose  to 
publish  very  soon,  and  in  which  all  its  laws  will 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  109 

be  explained  and  illustrated.  In  the  meantime, 
the  intelligent  reader  may  gather  a  great  number 
of  these  from  the  work  now  laid  before  him,  if  he 
will  take  the  trouble  of  attending  to  all  the  appli- 
cations which  we  have  made  of  them.  He  will 
there  find  that  it  is  by  this  method  alone  that  we 
have  been  guided,  and  that  it  has  almost  always 
been  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  referring  every 
fossil  bone  to  its  peculiar  species,  if  belonging  to 
one  that  still  exists ;  to  its  genus,  if  belonging  to  an 
unknown  species ;  to  its  order,  if  belonging  to  a 
new  genus ;  and,  finally,  to  its  class,  if  belonging 
to  an  unknown  order :  And,  in  these  three  latter 
predicaments,  to  assign  to  it  the  proper  characters 
for  distinguishing  it  from  the  nearest  resembling  or- 
ders, genera,  and  species.  Before  the  commence- 
ment of  these  researches,  naturalists  had  done  no 
more  than  this  in  regard  even  to  such  animal  re- 
mains as  were  found  in  an  entire  state. 

§  28.  Results  of  the  Researches  respecting  the  Fossil 
Bones  of  Quadrupeds* 

In  this  manner  we  have  ascertained  and  classifi- 
ed the  fossil  remains  of  seventy-eight  different 
quadrupeds,  in  the  viviparous  and  oviparous 
classes.  Of  these,  forty-nine  are  distinct  species 
hitherto  entirely  unknown  to  naturalists.  Eleven 
or  twelve  others  have  such  entire  resemblance  to 

*  Note  M. 


110  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

species  already  known,  as  to  leave  no  doubts 
whatever  of  their  identity ;  and  the  remaining  six- 
teen or  eighteen  have  considerable  traits  of  resem- 
blance to  known  species,  but  the  comparison  of 
these  has  not  yet  been  made  with  so  much  preci- 
sion as  to  remove  all  dubiety. 

Of  the  forty-nine  new  or  hitherto  unknown  spe- 
cies, twenty-seven  are  necessarily  referable  to 
seven  new  genera;  while  the  other  twenty-two 
new  species  belong  to  sixteen  genera,  or  sub-gene- 
ra, already  known.  The  whole  number  of  genera 
and  sub-genera  to  which  the  fossil  remains  of 
quadrupeds  hitherto  investigated  are  referable,  are 
thirty-six,  including  those  belonging  both  to  known 
and  unknown  species. 

•/•> 

Of  these  seventy-eight  species,  fifteen  which  be- 
long to  eleven  genera  or  sub-genera,  are  animals 
belonging  to  the  class  of  oviparous  quadrupeds; 
while  the  remaining  sixty-three  belong  to  the  mam- 
miferous  class.  Of  these  last,  thirty-two  species 
are  hoofed  animals,  not  ruminant,  and  reducible  to 
ten  genera ;  twelve  are  ruminant  animals,  belong- 
ing to  two  genera ;  seven  are  gnawers,  referable  to 
six  genera ;  eight  are  carnivorous  quadrupeds,  be- 
longing to  five  genera ;  two  are  toothless  animals, 
of  the  sloth  genus ;  and  two  are  amphibious  ani- 
mals of  two  distinct  genera.* 

*  As  the  author  has  already  referred  fifteen  other  species  to  what 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  Ill 

§  29.  Relations  of  the  Species  of  Fossil  Bones,  with 
the  Strata  in  which  they  are  found. 

Notwithstanding  the  considerable  number  of 
these  fossil  bones  already  discovered  and  ascer- 
tained, it  would  be  premature  to  attempt  estab- 
lishing any  conclusions  deduced  from  them  in  re- 
gard to  the  theory  of  the  earth,  as  they  are  not  in 
sufficient  proportion  to  the  entire  number  of  genera 
and  species  which,  in  all  probability,  arfe  buried 
in  the  strata  of  the  earth.  Hitherto  the  bones  of 
the  larger  species  have  chiefly  been  collected,  as 
more  obvious  to  the  labourers,  while  those  of 
smaller  animals  are  usually  neglected,  unless  when 
they  fall  by  accident  in  the  way  of  a  naturalist,  or 
when  some  other  remarkable  circumstance,  such  as 
their  extreme  abundance  in  any  particular  place,  at- 
tracts even  the  attention  of  common  people. 

The  most  important  consideration,  that  which 
has  been  the  chief  object  of  my  researches,  and 
which  constitutes  their  legitimate  connexion  with 
the  theory  of  the  earth,  is  to  ascertain  the  particu- 
lar strata  in  which  each  of  the  species  was  found, 
and  to  inquire  if  any  of  the  general  laws  could  be 
ascertained,  relative  either  to  the  zoological  sub- 
divisions, or  to  the  greater  or  less  resemblance  be- 

he  terms  the  oviparous  class  of  quadrupeds,  the  two  amphibious  ani- 
mals here  mentioned  probably  belong  to  the  order  of  cetaceous  mam- 
miferous  animals,  and  not  to  the  amphibia  of  the  Linnsean  system.*- 
Transl. 


112  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH* 

tween  these  fossil  species  and  those  which  still  ex* 
ist  upon  the  earth. 

The  laws  already  recognised  with  respect  to 
these  relations  are  very  distinct  and  satisfactory. 

It  is,  in  the  first  place,  clearly  ascertained,  that 
the  oviparous  quadrupeds  are  found  considerably 
earlier,  or  in  more  ancient  strata,  than  those  of  the 
viviparous  class.  Thus  the  crocodiles  of  Honfleur 
and  of  England  are  found  underneath  the  chalk. 
The  monitors  of  Thuringia  would  be  still  more  an- 
cient, if,  according  to  the  Wernerian  school,  the 
copper-slate  in  which  they  are  contained,  along 
with  a  great  number  of  fishes  supposed  to  have 
belonged  to  fresh  water,  is  to  be  placed  among  the 
most  ancient  strata  of  the  secondary  or  fla3tz  for- 
mations. The  great  alligators,  or  crocodiles,  and 
the  tortoises  of  Maestricht,  are  found  in  the  chalk 
formation ;  but  these  are  both  marine  animals. 

This  earliest  appearance  of  fossil  bones  seems  to 
indicate,  that  dry  lands  and  fresh  waters  must  have 
existed  before  the  foundation  of  the  chalk  strata. 
Yet  neither  at  that  early  epoch,  nor  during  the  for- 
mation of  the  chalk  strata,  nor  even  for  a  long  pe- 
riod afterwards,  do  we  find  any  fossil  remains  of 
mammiferous  land-quadrupeds. 

We  begin  to  find  the  bones  of  mammiferous  sea- 
animals,  namely,  of  the  lamantin  and  of  seals,  in 
the  coarse  shell  limestone  which  immediately  co- 


THEORY  0F  THE  EARTH.  113 

vers  the  chalk  strata  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris.  But  no  bones  of  mammiferous  land-quad- 
rupeds are  to  be  found  in  that  formation  ;  and 
notwithstanding  the  most  careful  investigations, 
I  have  never  been  able  to ,  discover  the  slightest 
traces  of  this  class,  except  in  the  formations  which 
lie  over  the  coarse  limestone  strata  ;  but  imme- 
diately on  reaching  these  more  recent  formations, 
the  bones  of  land-quadrupeds  are  discovered  in 
great  abundance. 

As  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  shells  and 
fish  did  not  exist  at  the  period  of  the  formation  of 
the  primitive  rocks,  we  are  also  led  to  conclude 
that  the,  oviparous  quadrupeds  began  to  exist 
along  with  the  fishes,  and  at  the  commencement 
of  the  period  which  produced  the  secondary  for- 
mations; while  the  land-quadrupeds  did  not  ap- 
pear upon  the  earth  till  long  afterwards,  and  un- 
til the  coarse  shell  limestone  had  been  already 
deposited,  which  contains  the  greater  part  of  our 
genera  of  shells,  although  of  quite  different  species 
from  those  that  are  now  found  in  a  natural  state. 

It  is  remarkable  that  those  coarse  limestone 
strata,  which  are  chiefly  employed  at  Paris  for 
building,  are  the  last  formed  strata  which  indicate 
a  long  and  quiet  continuance  of  the  water  of  the 
sea  above  the  surface  of  our  continent.  Above 
them,  indeed,  there  are  found  formations  contain- 
ing abundance  of  shells  and  other  productions  of 

15 


114  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

the  sea ;  but  these  consist  of  alluvial  materials, 
sand,  marie,  sandstone,  or  clay,  which  rather  indi- 
cate transportations  that  have  taken  place  with 
some  degree  of  violence,  than  strata  formed  by  quiet 
depositions  ;  and  where  some  regular  rocky  strata, 
of  inconsiderable  extent  and  thickness,  appear 
above  or  below  these  alluvial  formations,  they  ge- 
nerally bear  the  marks  of  having  been  deposited 
from  fresh  water. 

All  the  known  specimens  of  the  bones  of  vivi- 
parous land  quadrupeds,  have  either  been  found 
in  these  formations  from  fresh  water,  or  in  the  al- 
luvial formations  ;  whence  there  is  every  reason  to 
conclude  that  these  animals  have  only  begun  to 
exist,  or  at  least  to  leave  their  remains  in  the  strata 
of  our  earth,  since  the  last  retreat  of  the  sea  but 
one,  and  during  that  state  of  the  world  which  pre- 
ceded its  last  irruption. 

There  is  also  a  determinate  order  observable 
in  the  disposition  of  these  bones  in  regard  to  each 
other,  which  indicates  a  very  remarkable  suc- 
cession in  the  appearance  of  the  different  species* 
All  the  genera  which  are  now  unknown  as  thepa- 
Iceotheria,  anaplotherid,  &c.  with  the  localities  of 
which  we  are  thoroughly  acquainted,  are  found  in 
the  most  ancient  of  those  formations  of  which  we 
are  now  treating,  or  those  which  are  placed  direct- 
ly over  the  coarse  limestone  strata.  It  is  chiefly 
they  which  occupy  the  regular  strata  that  have 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

been  deposited  from  fresh  water,  or  certain  allu- 
vial beds  of  very  ancient  formation,  generally 
composed  of  sand  and  rounded  pebbles ;  which 
were  perhaps  the  earliest  alluvial  formations  of  thje 
ancient  world.  Along  with  these  there  are  also 
found  some  lost  species  of  known  genera,  but  in 
small  numbers ;  together  with  some  oviparous 
quadrupeds  and  some  fish,  which  appear  to  have 
been  inhabitants  of  fresh  water.  The  strata  con- 
taining these  are  always  more  or  less  covered  with 
alluvial  formations,  filled  with  shells  and  other 
productions  of  the  sea. 

The  most  celebrated  of  the  unknown  species 
belonging  to  known  genera,  or  to  genera  nearly  al- 
lied to  those  that  are  known,  as  the  fossil  elephant, 
rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  and  mastodon,  are  never 
found  along  with  the  more  ancient  genera ;  but 
are  only  contained  in  alluvial  formations,  some- 
times along  with  sea-shells,  and  sometimes  with 
fresh-water  shells,  but  never  in  regular  rocky  stra- 
ta. Every  thing  found  along  with  these  species  is 
either,  like  them,  unknown,  or  at  least  doubtful. 

Lastly,  the  bones  of  species  which  are  appa- 
rently the  same  with  those  that  still  exist  alive,  are 
never  found  except  in  the  very  latest  alluvial  de- 
positions, or  those  which  are  either  formed  on 
the  sides  of  rivers,  or  on  the  bottoms  of  ancient 
lakes  or  marshes  now  dried  up,  or  in  the  sub- 
stance of  beds  of  peat,  or  in  the  fissures  and  ca- 


116  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

verns  of  certain  rocks,  or  at  small  depths  below 
the  present  surface,  in  places  where  they  may  have 
been  overwhelmed  by  debris,  or  even  buried  by 
man :  And,  although  these  bones  are  the  most  re- 
cent of  all,  they  are  almost  always,  owing  to  their 
superficial  situation,  the  worst  preserved. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  thought  that  this  clas- 
sification of  the  various  mineral  repositories  is  as 
certain  as  that  of  the  species,  and  that  it  has  near- 
ly the  same  character  of  demonstration.  Many 
reasons  might  be  assigned  to  show  that  this  could 
not  be  the  case.  All  the  determinations  of  spe- 
cies have  been  made,  either  by  means  of  the  bones 
themselves,  or  from  good  figures ;  whereas  it  has 
been  impossible  for  me  personally  to  examine  the 
places  in  which  these  bones  were  found.  Indeed 
I  have  often  been  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  satis- 
fying myself  with  vague  and  ambiguous  accounts, 
given  by  persons  who  did  not  know  well  what  was 
necessary  to  be  noticed ;  and  I  have  still  more  fre- 
quently been  unable  to  procure  any  information 
whatever  on  the  subject. 

Secondly,  these  mineral  repositories  are  subject 
to  infinitely  greater  doubts  in  regard  to  their  suc- 
cessive formations,  than  are  the  fossil  bones  re- 
specting their  arrangement  and  determination. 
The  same  formation  may  seem  recent  in  those 
places  where  it  happens  to  be  superficial,  and 
ancient  where  it  has  been  covered  over  by  sue- 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  117 

ceeding  formations.  Ancient  formations  may  have 
been  transported  into  new  situations  by  means  of 
partial  inundations,  and  may  thus  have  covered 
over  recent  formations  containing  bones;  they 
may  have  been  carried  over  by  debris  so  as  to  sur- 
round these  recent  bones,  and  may  have  mix- 
ed with  them  the  productions  of  the  ancient  sea, 
which  they  previously  contained.  Anciently  de- 
posited bones  may  have  been  washed  out  from 
their  original  situations  by  the  waters,  and  been 
afterwards  enveloped  in  recent  alluvial  formations. 
And,  lastly,  recent  bones  may  have  fallen  into  the 
crevices  and  caverns  of  ancient  rocks,  where  they 
may  have  been  covered  up  by  stalactites  or  other 
incrustations.  In  every  individual  instance,  there- 
fore, it  becomes  necessary  to  examine  and  appre- 
ciate all  these  circumstances,  which  might  other- 
wise conceal  the  real  origin  of  extraneous  fossils; 
and  it  rarely  happens  that  the  people  who  found 
these  fossil  bones  were  aware  of  this  necessity,  and 
consequently  the  true  characters  of  their  reposi- 
tories have  almost  always  been  overlooked  or  mis- 
understood. 

Thirdly,  there  are  still  some  doubtful  species  of 
these  fossil  bones,  which  must  occasion  more  or  less 
uncertainty  in  the  result  of  our  researches,  until 
they  have  been  clearly  ascertained.  Thus  the  fos- 
sil bones  of  horses  and  buffaloes,  which  have  been 
found  along  with  those  of  elephants,  have  not  hi- 
therto presented  sufficiently  distinct  specific  cha- 


118  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

racters ;  and  such  geologists  as  are  disinclined  to 
adopt  the  successive  epochs  which  I  have  endea- 
voured to  establish  in  regard  to  fossil  bones,  may 
for  many  years  draw  from  thence  an  argument 
against  my  system,  so  much  the  more  convenient  as 
it  is  contained  in  my  own  work.  Even  allowing  that 
these  epochs  are  liable  to  some  objections,  from 
such  as  have  slightly  considered  some  particular 
fact,  I  am  not  the  less  satisfied  that  those  who  shall 
take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  phenomena,  will 
not  be  checked  by  inconsiderable  and  partial  dif- 
ficulties, but  will  be  led  to  conclude,  as  I  have 
done,  that  there  has  at  least  been  one  succession, 
and  very  probably  two,  in  the  class  of  quadrupeds, 
before  the  appearance  of  those  races  which  now 
inhabit  the  surface  of  our  globe. 

§  30.  Proofs  that  the  extinct   Species  of  Quadrupeds 
are  not  Varieties  of  the  presently  existing  Species. 

The  following  objection  has  already  been  start- 
ed  against  my  conclusions.  Why  may  not  the  pre- 
sently existing  races  of  mammiferous  land-quadru- 
peds be  mere  modifications  or  varieties  of  those 
ancient  races  which  we  now  find  in  the  fossil  state, 
which  modifications  may  have  been  produced  by 
I  change  of  climate  and  other  local  circumstances, 
and  since  raised  to  the  present  excessive  diffe- 
rence, by  the  operation  of  similar  causes  during  a 
Jong  succession  of  ages  ? 


THEORY  OP  tHfc  EARTH.  119 

This  objection  may  appear  strong  to  those  who 
believe  in  the  indefinite  possibility  of  change  of 
forms  in  organized  bodies,  and  think  that  during  a 
succession  of  ages,  and  by  alterations  of  habitudes, 
all  the  species  may  change  into  each  other,  or  one 
of  them  give  birth  to  all  the  rest.  Yet  to  these 
persons  the  following  answer  may  be  given  from 
their  own  system :  If  the  species  have  changed  by 
degrees,  as  they  assume,  we  ought  to  find  traces  of 
this  gradual  modification.  Thus,  between  the 
palcEothcrium  and  the  species  of  our  own  days,  we 
should  be  able  to  discover  some  intermediate 
forms ;  and  yet  no  such  discovery  has  ever  been 
made.  Since  the  bowels  of  the  earth  have  not  pre- 
served monuments  of  this  strange  genealogy,  we 
have  a  right  to  conclude,  That  the  ancient  and  now 
extinct  species  were  as  permanent  in  their  forms 
and  characters  as  those  which  exist  at  present ;  or 
at  least,  That  the  catastrophe  which  destroyed 
them  did  not  leave  sufficient  time  for  the  produc- 
tion of  the  changes  that  are  alleged  to  have  taken 
place. 

In  order  to  reply  to  those  naturalists  who  ac- 
knowledge that  the  varieties  of  animals  are  re- 
strained by  nature  within  certain  limits,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  examine  how  far  these  limits  ex- 
tend. This  is  a  very  curious*  inquiry,  and  in  it- 
self exceedingly  interesting  under  a  variety  of 
relations,  but  has  been  hitherto  very  little  attend- 
ed to.  It  requires  that  we  should  define  accu- 


120  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

rately  what  is,  or  ought  to  be,  understood  by  the 
word  species,  which  may  be  thus  expressed  : — Jl 
species  comprehends   all  the  individuals  which  descend 
from  each   other,  or  from  a  common  parentage,  and 
those  ivhich  resemble  them  as  much  as  they  do  each  other. 
Thus  the  different  races  which  they  have  genera- 
ted from  them  are   considered  as  varieties  but  of 
one  species.     Our  observations,  therefore,  respect- 
ing the    differences    between   the  ancestors   and 
the  descendants,  are  the  only  rules  by  which  we 
can  judge  on  this  subject ;  all  other  considerations 
being  merely  hypothetical,  and  destitute  of  proof. 
Taking  the  word  variety  in  this  limited  sense,  we 
observe  that  the  differences  which  constitute  this 
variety   depend  upon  determinate  circumstances, 
and  that  their  extent  increases  in  proportion  to 
the  intensity  of  the  circumstances  which  occasion 

them. 

•* 

Upon  these  principles  it  may  be  observed,  that 
the  most  superficial  characters  are  the  most  va- 
riable. Thus  colour  depends  much  upon  light ; 
thickness  of  hair  upon  heat;  size  upon  abundance 
of  food,  &c.  In  wild  animals,  however,  even  these 
varieties  are  greatly  limited  by  the  natural  habits 
of  the  animal,  which  does  not  willingly  migrate 
from  the  places  where  it  finds  insufficient  quanti- 
ty what  is  necessary  for  the  support  of  its  species, 
and  does  not  even  extend  its  haunts  to  any  great 
distances,  unless  it  also  finds  all  these  circumstan- 
ces conjoined.  Thus,  although  the  wrolf  and  the 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  121 

ibx  inhabit  all  the  climates  from  the  torrid  to  the 
frigid  zone,  we  hardly  find  any  other  differences 
among  them,  through  the  whole  of  that  vast  space, 
than  a  little  more  or  a  little  less  beauty  in  their 
furs.  I  have  compared  the  skulls  of  foxes  from 
the  most  northern  regions  and  from  Egypt  with 
those  of  France,  and  found  no  differences  but 
what  might  naturally  be  expected  in  different  in- 
dividuals. The  more  savage  animals,  especially 
those  which  are  carnivorous,  being  confined  with- 
in narrower  limits,  vary  still  less ;  and  the  only  dif- 
ference between  the  hyena  of  Persia  and  that  of 
Morocco,  consists  in  a  thicker  or  a  thinner  mane. 

Wild  animals  which  subsist  upon  herbage  feel 
the  influence  of  climate  a  little  more  extensively, 
because  there  is  added  to  it  the  influence  of  food, 
both  in  regard  to  its  abundance  and  its  quality. 
Thus  the  elephants  of  one  forest  are  larger  than 
those  of  another ;  their  tusks  also  grow  somewhat 
longer  in  places  where  their  food  may  happen  to 
be  more  favourable  for  the  production  of  the  sub- 
stance of  ivory.  The  same  may  take  place  in  re- 
gard to  the  horns  of  stags  and  rein-deer.  But  let  us 
examine  two  elephants  the  most  dissimilar  that 
can  be  conceived,  we  shall  not  discover  the  small- 
est difference  in  the  number  and  articulations  of 
the  bones,  the  structure  of  the  teeth,  &c. 

Besides,  the  species  of  herbivorous  animals,  in 
their  wild  state,  seem  more  restrained  from  migra* 

16 


122  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

ting  and  dispersing  than  the  carnivorous  species, 
being  influenced  both  by  climate  and  by  the  kind 
of  nourishment  which  they  need. 

Nature  appears  also  to  have  guarded  against  the 
alterations  of  species  which  might  proceed  from 
mixture  of  breeds,  by  influencing  the  various  species 
of  animals  with  mutual  aversion  from  each  other. 
Hence  all  the  cunning  and  all  the  force  that  man 
is  able  to  exert  is  necessary  to  accomplish  such 
unions,  even  between  species  that  have  the  near- 
est resemblances.  And  when  the  mule-breeds 
that  are  thus  produced  by  these  forced  con- 
junctions happen  to  be  fruitful,  which  is  seldom 
the  case,  this  fecundity  never  continues  beyond  a 
few  generations,  and  would  not  probably  proceed 
so  far,  without  a  continuance  of  the  same  cares 
which  excited  it  at  first.  Thus  we  never  see  in 
a  wild  state  intermediate  productions  between 
the  hare  and  the  rabbit,  between  the  stag  and  the 
doe,  or  between  the  martin  and  the  weasel.  But 
the  power  of  man  changes  this  established  order, 
and  contrives  to  produce  all  these  intermixtures 
of  which  the  various  species  are  susceptible,  but 
which  they  would  never  produce  if  left  to  them- 
selves. 

The  degrees  of  these  variations  are  proportional 
to  the  intensity  of  the  causes  that  produce  them, 
namely,  the  slavery  or  subjection  under  which 
those  animals  are  to  man.  They  do  not  proceed 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  123 

far  in  half-domesticated  species.  In  the  cat,  for 
example,  a  softer  or  harsher  fur,  more  brilliant  or 
more  varied  colours,  greater  or  less  size — these 
form  the  whole  extent  of  the  varieties  in  the  spe- 
cies ;  the  skeleton  of  the  cat  of  Angora  differs  in 
no  regular  and  constant  circumstances  from  the 
wild  cat  of  Europe. 

In  the  domesticated  herbivorous  quadrupeds, 
which  man  transports  into  all  kinds  of  climates, 
and  subjects  to  various  kinds  of  management, 
both  in  regard  to  labour  and  nourishment,  he  pro- 
cures certainly  more  considerable  variations,  but 
still  they  are  all  merely  superficial.  Greater  or 
less  size;  longer  or  shorter  horns,  or  even  the 
want  of  these  entirely  ;  a  hump  of  fat,  larger  or 
smaller  on  the  shoulder;  these  form  the  chief  dif- 
ferences among  particular  races  of  the  bos  taurus, 
or  domestic  black  cattle  ;  and  these  differences 
continue  long  in  such  breeds  as  have  been 
transported  to  great  distances  from  the  countries 
in  which  they  were  originally  produced,  when 
proper  care  is  taken  to  prevent  crossing. 

The  innumerable  varieties  in  the  breeds  of  the 
ovis  aries,  or  common  sheep,  are  of  a  similar  na* 
ture,  and  chiefly  consist  in  differences  of  their 
fleeces,  as  the  wool  which  they  produce,  is  a  very 
important  object  of  attention.  These  varieties^ 
though  not  quite  so  perceptible,  are  yet  sufficient- 
ly marked  among  horses.  In  general  the  forms 


124  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

of  the  bones  are  very  little  changed ;  their  con* 
nexions  and  articulations,  and  the  form  and  struc- 
ture of  the  large  grinding  teeth,  are  invariably  the 
same.  The  small  size  of  the  tusks  in  the  domes- 
ticated hog,  compared  with  the  wild  boar  of  which 
it  is  only  a  cultivated  variety,  and  the  junction  of 
its  cloven  hoofs  into  one  solid  hoof,  observable  in 
some  races,  form  the  extreme  point  of  the  dif- 
ferences which  man  has  been  able  to  produce 
among  herbivorous  domesticated  quadrupeds. 

The  most  remarkable  effects  of  the  influence  of 
man  are  produced  upon  that  animal  which  he  has 
reduced  most  completely  under  subjection.  Dogs 
have  been  transported  by  mankind  into  every 
part  of  the  world,  and  have  submitted  their  ac- 
tions to  his  entire  direction.  Regulated  in  their 
sexual  unions  by  the  pleasure  or  caprice  of  their 
masters,  the  almost  endless  varieties  of  dogs  differ 
from  each  other  in  colour  ;  in  length  and  abun^ 
dance  of  hair,  which  is  sometimes  entirely  want- 
ing ;  in  their  natural  instincts ;  in  size,  which  va- 
ries in  measure  as  one  to  five,  amounting,  in  some 
instances,  to  more  than  an  hundred  fold  in  bulk ; 
in  the  forms  of  their  ears,  noses,  and  tails  ;  in  the 
relative  length  of  their  legs ;  in  the  progressive  de- 
velopement  of  the  brain  in  several  of  the  domes- 
ticated varieties,  occasioning  alterations,  even  in 
the  form  of  the  head ;  some  of  them  having  long 
slender  muzzles  with  a  flat  forehead ;  others  having 
short  muzzles,  with  the  forehead  convex,  &c.  inso- 
much that  the  apparent  differences  between  a  mas- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  12 3 

tiff  and  a  water-spaniel,  and  between  a  greyhound 
and  a  pug-dog,  are  even  more  striking  than  be- 
tween almost  any  of  the  wild  species  of  a  genus. 
Finally,  and  this  may  be  considered  as  the  maxi- 
mum of  known  variation  in  the  animal  kingdom, 
some  races  of  dogs  have  an  additional  claw  on 
each  hind-foot,  with  corresponding  bones  of  the 
tarsus;  as  there  sometimes  occur  in  the  human 
species  some  families  that  have  six  fingers  on  each 
hand.  Yet,  in  all  these  varieties,  the  relations  of 
the  bones  with  each  other  remains  essentially 
the  same,  and  the  form  of  the  teeth  never  changes 
in  any  perceptible  degree,  except  that  in  some 
individuals  one  additional  false  grinder  occasion- 
ally appears,  sometimes  on  the  one  side,  arid 
sometimes  on  the  other.* 

It  follows  from  these  observations,  that  animals 
have  certain  fixed  and  natural  characters,  which 
resist  the  effects  of  every  kind  of  influence,  whether 
proceeding  from  natural  causes  or  human  inter- 
ference ;  and  we  have  not  the  smallest  reason  to 
suspect  that  time  has  any  more  effect  upon  them 
than  climate. 

I  am  well  aware  that  some  naturalists  lay  pro- 
digious stress  on  the  thousands  of  years  which 
they  can  call  into  action  by  a  dash  of  their  pens, 

*  See,  in  the  Annals  of  the  Museum,  XVIII.  333.,  a  memoir  by  my 
brother  on  the  varieties  of  dogs,  which  he  drew  up  at  my  request, 
from  a  series  of  skeletons  of  all  the  varieties  of  dogs,  prepared  by  me 
expressly  on  purpose. 


126  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

In  such  matters,  however,  our  only  way  of  judging 
as  to  the  effects  which  may  be  produced  by  a  long 
period  of  time,  is  by  multiplying,  as  it  were,  such 
as  are  produced  by  a  shorter  known  time.  With 
this  view  I  have  endeavoured  to  collect  all  the  an- 
cient documents  respecting  the  forms  of  animals ; 
and  there  are  none  equal  to  those  furnished  by  the 
Egyptians,  both  in  regard  to  their  antiquity  and 
abundance.  They  have  not  only  left  us  represen- 
tations of  animals,  but  even  their  identical  bodies 
embalmed  and  preserved  in  the  catacombs. 

I  have  examined  with  the  greatest  attention  the 
engraved  figures  of  quadrupeds  and  birds  upon 
the  numerous  obelisks  brought  from  Egypt  to  an- 
cient Rome;  and  all  these  figures,  one  with 
another,  have  a  perfect  resemblance  to  their  in- 
tended objects,  such  as  they  still  are  in  our  days. 

My  learned  colleague,  M.  Geoffroy  Saint  Hi- 
laire,  convinced  of  the  importance  of  this  research, 
carefully  collected  in  the  tombs  and  temples  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  as  many  mummies  of  ani- 
mals as  he  could  procure.  He  has  brought  home 
the  mummies  of  cats,  ibises,  birds  of  prey,  dogs, 
monkies,  crocodiles,  and  the  head  of  a  bull ;  and 
after  the  most  attentive  and  detailed  examination, 
not  the  smallest  difference  is  to  be  perceived  be- 
tween these  animals  and  those  of  the  same  species 
which  we  now  see,  any  more  than  between  the  hu- 
man mummies  and  the  skeletons  of  men  of  the  pre- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  127 

sent  day.  Some  slight  differences  are  discover- 
able between  ibis  and  ibis,  for  example,  just  as  we 
now  find  differences  in  the  descriptions  of  natural- 
ists ;  but  I  have  removed  all  doubts  on  that  sub- 
ject, in  a  memoir  on  the  Ibis  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians, in  which  I  have  clearly  shown  that  this 
bird  is  precisely  the  same  in  all  respects  at  pre- 
sent that  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  Pharaohs.*  I  am 
aware  that  in  these  I  only  cite  the  monuments  of 
two  or  three  thousand  years  back ;  but  this  is  the 
most  remote  antiquity  to  which  we  can  resort  in 
such  a  case. 

From  all  these  well-established  facts,  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  smallest  foundation  for 
supposing,  that  the  new  genera  which  I  have  dis- 
covered or  established  among  extraneous  fossils, 
such  as  the  palceotherium,  anoplotherium,  megalonyx^ 
mastodon,  pterodactylis,  &c.  have  ever  been  the 
sources  of  any  of  our  present  animals,  which  only  dif- 
fer so  far  as  they  are  influenced  by  time  or  climate. 
Even  if  it  should  prove  true,  which  I  am  far  from 
believing  to  be  the  case,  that  the  fossil  elephants, 
rhinoceroses,  elks,  and  bears,  do  not  diner  far- 
ther from  the  presently  existing  species  of  the 
same  genera,  than  the  present  races  of  dogs  dif- 
fer among  themselves,  this  would  by  no  means 


*  In  that  dissertation,  the  ibis  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  is  shown  to 
be  a  species  of  numenius,  or  curlew,  denominated  by  Cuvier  nw- 
menius  ibis ;  the  same  bird  described  in  Bruce's  Travels  under  the 
name  of  abU'hannes.—TrtsnsL 


128  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

be  a  sufficient  reason  to  conclude  that  they  were 
of  the  same  species;  since  the  races  or  varieties 
of  dogs  have  been  influenced  by  the  trammels  of 
domesticity,  which  these  other  animals  never  did, 
and  indeed  never  could  experience. 

Farther,  when  I  endeavour  to  prove  that  the 
rocky  strata  contain  the  bony  remains  of  seve- 
ral genera,  and  the  loose  strata  those  of  several 
species,  all  of  which  are  not  now  existing  animals 
on  the  face  of  our  globe,  I  do  not  pretend  that  a 
new  creation  was  required  for  calling  our  -  present 
races  of  animals  into  existence.  I  only  urge  that 
they  did  not  anciently  occupy  the  same  places,  and 
that  they  must  have  come  from  some  other  part  of 
the  globe.  Let  us  suppose,  for  instance,  that  a 
prodigious  inroad  of  the  sea  were  now  to  cover  the 
continent  of  New-Holland  with  a  coat  of  sand  and 
other  earthy  materials ;  this  would  necessarily  bury 
the  carcasses  of  many  animals  belonging  to  the  ge- 
nera of  kanguroo,  phascoloma,  dasyurus,  peramela,  fly- 
ing-phalangerSi  echidna,  and  ornithorynchus,  and  would 
consequently  entirely  extinguish  all  the  species  of 
all  these  genera,  as  not  one  of  them  is  to  be  found 
in  any  other  country.  Were  the  same  revolution 
to  lay  dry  the  numerous  narrow  straits  which  sepa- 
rate New-Holland  from  New-Guinea,  the  Indian 
islands,  and  the  continent  of  Asia,  a  road  would  be 
opened  for  the  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  buffaloes, 
horses,  camels,  tigers,  and  all  the  other  Asiatic  ani- 
mals, to  occupy  a  land  in  which  they  are  hitherto 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  129 

unknown.  Were  some  future  naturalist,  after  be- 
coming well  acquainted  with  the  living  animals 
of  that  country  in  this  supposed  new  condition, 
to  search  below  the  surface  on  which  these  ani- 
mals were  nourished,  he  would  then  discover  the 
remains  of  quite  different  races. 

What  New  Holland  would  then  be,  under 
these  hypothetical  circumstances,  Europe,  Sibe- 
ria, and  a  large  portion  of  America,  actually  now 
are.  Perhaps  hereafter,  when  other  countries 
shall  be  investigated,  and  New  Holland  among  the 
rest,  they  also  may  be  found  to  have  all  under- 
gone similar  revolutions,  and  perhaps  may  have 
made  reciprocal  changes  of  animal  productions. 
If  we  push  the  former  supposition  somewhat  far- 
ther, and,  after  the  supply  of  Asiatic  animals  to 
New  Holland,  admit  that  a  subsequent  catastro- 
phe might  overwhelm  Asia,  the  primitive  country 
of  the  migrated  animals,  future  geologist^y^nd  na- 
turalists would  perhaps  be  equally  at  a  loss  to  dis- 
cover whence  the  then  living  animals  of  New  Hol- 
land had  come,  as  we  now  are  to  find  out  the  ori- 
ginal habitations  of  our  present  fossil  animals. 

§  32.  Proofs  that  there  are  no  Human  Bones  in  a  Fos- 
sil State. 

I  now  proceed  to  apply  the  previous  reasonings 
to  the  human  race.  It  is  quite  undeniable  that 
no  human  remains  have  been  hitherto  discovered 

17 


130  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH, 

among  the  extraneous  fossils ;  and  this  furnishes 
a  strong  proof  that  the  extinct  races  which  are 
now  found  in  a  fossil  state,  were  not  varieties  of 
known  species,  since  they  never  could  have  been 
subjected  to  human  influence. 

When  I  assert  that  human  bones  have  not  been 
hitherto  found  among  extraneous  fossils,  I  must 
be  understood  to  speak  of  fossils,  or  petrifications, 
properly  so  called :  As  in  peat  depositions  or  turf 
bogs,  and  in  alluvial  formations,  as  well  as  in  an- 
cient burying-grounds,  the  bones  of  men  with  those 
of  horses,  and  other  ordinary  existing  species  of 
animals,  may  readily  enough  be  found ;  but  among 
the  fossil  palceotheria,  the  elephants,  the  rhinoce- 
roses, &c.  the  smallest  fragment  of  human  bone 
has  never  been  detected.  Most  of  the  labourers 
in  the  gypsum  quarries  about  Paris  are  firmly  per- 
suaded that  the  bones  they  contain  are  in  a  great 
part  human :  but  after  having  seen  and  carefully 
examined  many  thousands  of  these  bones,  I  may 
safely  affirm  that  not  a  single  fragment  of  them  has 
ever  belonged  to  our  species. 

I  carefully  examined  at  Pavia  the  collection  of 
extraneous  fossil  bones  brought  there  by  Spalan- 
zani  from  the  island  of  Cerigo ;  and,  notwithstand- 
ing the  assertion  of  that  celebrated  observer,  I 
affirm  that  there  is  not  a  single  fragment  among 
them  that  ever  formed  part  of  a  human  skeleton. 


THEORY  0F  THE  EARTH*  131 

In  my  fourth  volume,  the  homo  dilumi  testis  of 
•Scheuchzer  is  restored  to  the  proteus,  its  true  ge- 
nus ;  and  in  a  still  more  recent  examination  of  it 
at  Haerlem,  allowed  by  the  politeness  of  M.  Van 
Marum,  who  even  permitted  me  to  uncover  some 
parts  that  were  before  enveloped  in  the  stone,  I 
obtained  decisive  proof  of  what  I  had  before  an- 
nounced. 

Among  the  fossil  bones  discovered  at  Cronstadt, 
the  fragment  of  a  jaw,  together  with  some  articles 
of  human  manufacture,  was  found ;  but  it  is  well 
known  that  the  ground  was  dug  up  without  any 
precautions,  and  no  notes   were  taken  of  the  dif- 
ferent  depths  at   which   each  article  was  found. 
Everywhere  else,  the    fragments  of  bone  consid- 
ered as  human  have  been  found  to  belong  to  some 
animal,  either  when  the  fragments  themselves  have 
been  actually   examined,  or  even  when  their  en- 
graved  figures  have  been   inspected.     Such  real 
human  bones  as  have  been  found  in  a  fossil  state, 
belonged  to  bodies  which  had  fallen  into  crevices 
of  rocks,  or  had  been  left  in  the  forsaken  galleries 
of  ancient  mines,  and  were  covered  up  by  incrus- 
tation.    The  same  has  been  the  case  with  all  ar- 
ticles of  human  fabric.     The  pieces  of  iron  which 
have  been  found   at  Montmartre,  are  fragments  of 
the  iron  tools  used  in  the  quarries  for  putting  in 
blasts  of  gunpowder,  and  which  sometimes  break 
in  the  stone. 


132  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

Yet  human  bones   preserve  equally  well  with 
those  of  animals,  when  placed  in  the  same  circum- 
stances ;  and   there  is  no  observable  difference  in 
this  respect  in  Egypt  between  the  mummies  of  men 
and  those  of  quadrupeds.     I  have  picked  up,  from 
the  excavations  made  lately  in  the  ancient  church 
at  St.  Genevieve,  human   bones  that  had  been  in- 
terred below  the  remains  of  the  first  race,  which 
may  even   have  belonged  to  some  princes  of  the 
family  of  Clovis,  and    which  still  retained   their 
forms  very   perfectly.*     We  do  not  find  in  ancient 
fields  of  battle,  that  the  skeletons  of  men  are  more 
wasted  than  those  of  horses,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  may    be    influenced   by  size,  and   we   find 
among   extraneous  fossils  the  bones  of  animals  as 
small  as  rats,  perfectly  well  preserved. 

Every  circumstance,  therefore,  contributes  to 
establish  this  position — That  the  human  race  did 
not  exist  in  the  countries  in  which  the  fossil  bones 
of  animals  have  been  discovered,  at  the  epoch 
when  these  bones  were  covered  up  ;  as  there  can- 
not be  a  single  reason  assigned  why  men  should 
have  entirely  escaped  from  such  general  catas- 
trophes ;  Or,  if  they  also  had  been  destroyed  and 
covered  over  at  the  same  time,  why  their  remains 
should  not  now  be  found  along  with  those  of  the 
other  animals.  I  do  not  presume,  however,  to 
conclude  that  man  did  not  exist  at  all  before  these 

*  M.  Fourcroy  has  given  an  analysis  of  these  bones. 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  133 

epochs.  He  may  have  then  inhabited  some  nar- 
row regions,  whence  he  went  forth  to  repeople 
the  earth  after  the  cessation  of  these  terrible  re- 
volutions and  overwhelmings.  Perhaps  even  the 
places  which  he  then  inhabited  may  have  been 
sunk  into  the  abyss,  and  the  bones  of  that  destroy- 
ed human  race  may  yet  remain  buried  under  the 
bottom  of  some  actual  seas ;  all  except  a  small 
number  of  individuals  who  were  destined  to  con- 
tinue the  species. 

However  this  may  have  been,  the  establish- 
ment of  mankind  in  those  countries  in  which  the 
fossil  bones  of  land-animals  have  been  found,  that 
is  to  say,  in  the  greatest  part  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America,  must  necessarily  have  been  posterior  not 
only  to  the  revolutions  which  covered  up  these 
bones,  but  also  to  those  other  revolutions,  by  which 
the  strata  containing  the  bones  have  been  laid 
bare.  Hence  it  clearly  appears,  that  no  argument 
for  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race  in  those  coun- 
tries can  be  founded  either  upon  these  fossil  bones 
or  upon  the  more  or  less  considerable  collections 
of  rocks  or  earthy  materials  by  which  they  are 
covered. 

§  31.  Proofs  of  the  recent  Population  of  the  World,  and 
that  its  present  Surface  is  not  of  very  ancient  Forma- 
tion. 

On  the  contrary,  by  a  careful  investigation  of 
what  has   taken  place  on  the  surface  of  the  globe 


134  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

since  it  has  been  laid  dry  for  the  last  time,  and 
its  continents  have  assumed  their  present  form, 
at  least  in  such  parts  as  are  somewhat  elevated 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  it  may  be  clearly  seen 
that  this  last  revolution,  and  consequently  the  es- 
tablishment of  our  existing  societies,  could  not 
have  been  very  ancient.  Thik  result  is  one  of  the 
best  established  and  least  attended  to,  in  rational 
zoology ;  and  it  is  so  much  the  more  valuable,  as 
it  connects  natural  and  civil  history  together  ia 
one  uninterrupted  series. 

When  we  endeavour  to  estimate  the  quantity 
of  effects  produced  in  a  given  time  by  any  causes 
still  acting,  by   comparing  them  with  the  effects 
which  these  causes  have  produced  since  they  be- 
gan to  operate,  we  may  determine  nearly  the  pe- 
riod   at  which   their   action   commenced  5  which 
must  necessarily  be  the  same  period  with  that  in 
which  our  continents  assumed  their  presently  exis- 
ting forms,  or  with  that  of  the  last  retreat  of  the  wa- 
ters.    It  must  have  been  since  that  last  retreat  of 
the  waters,  that  the   acclivities  of  our  mountains 
have  begun  to  disintegrate,  and  to  form  slopes  or 
taluses  of  the  debris  at  their  bottoms  and  upon 
their  sides  ;  that  our  rivers  have  begun  to  flow  in 
their  present  courses,  and  to  form  alluvial  depo- 
sitions ;  that  our  existing  vegetation  has  begun  to 
extend   itself,  and  to   form  vegetable    soil ;    that 
our  present   cliflfe,  or  steep  sloping  coasts,  have 
feegun  to  be  worn  away  by  the  waters  of  the  sea ; 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  135 

that  our  actual  downs,  or  sand-hills,  have  begun 
to  be  blown  up  by  the  winds.  And,  dating  from 
the  same  epoch,  colonies  of  the  human  race  must 
have  then  begun,  for  the  first  or  for  the  second 
time,  to  spread  themselves,  and  to  form  new  estab- 
lishments in  places  fitted  by  nature  for  their  re- 
ception. 

I  do  not  here  take  the  action  of  volcanoes  in- 
to the  account,  not  only  because  of  the  irregula- 
rity of  their  eruptions,  but  because  we  have  no 
proofs  of  their  not  having  been  able  to  act  below 
the  sea ;  and  because,  on  that  account,  they  can- 
not serve  us  as  a  measure  of  the  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  its  last  retreat. 

MM.  Deluc  and  Dolomieu  have  most  carefully 
examined  the  progress  of  the  formation  of  new 
grounds  by  the  collection  of  slime  and  sand  wash- 
ed down  by  the  rivers;  and,  although  exceeding- 
ly opposed  to  each  other  on  many  points  of  the 
theory  of  the  earth,  they  agree  exactly  on  this. 
These  formations  augment  very  rapidly ;  they  must 
have  increased  with  the  greatest  rapidity  at  first*, 
when  the  mountains  furnished  the  greatest  quan- 
tity of  materials  to  the  rivers,*  and  yet  their  extent 
still  continues  to  be  extremely  limited. 


*  One  instance  will  be  found  appended  to  this  Essay,  of  modern 
alluvial  formations  proceeding  with  considerably  increased  rapidity. 


136  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

The  memoir  by  M.  Dolomieu  respecting 
Egypt,*  tends  to  prove  that  the  tongue  of  land 
on  which  Alexander  caused  his  famous  commer- 
cial city  to  be  built,  did  not  exist  in  the  days  of 
Homer ;  because  they  were  then  able  to  navigate 
directly  from  the  island  of  Pharos  into  the  gulf 
afterwards  called  Lams  Mareotis ;  and  that  this 
^gulf,  as  indicated  by  Menelaus,  was  between  fif- 
teen and  twenty  leagues  in  length.  Supposing 
this  to  be  accurate,  it  had  only  required  the  lapse 
of  nine  hundred  years,  from  the  days  of  Homer  to 
the  time  of  Strabo,  to  reduce  matters  to  the  situa- 
tion described  by  this  latter  author,  when  that 
gulf  was  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  lake  only  six 
leagues  long. 

It  is  a  more  certain  fact,  that  since  that  time  a 
still  greater  change  has  taken  place.  The  sands, 
which  have  been  thrown  up  by  the  sea  and  the 
winds,  have  formed,  between  the  isle  of  Pharos  and 
the  site  of  ancient  Alexandria,  an  isthmus  more 
than  four  hundred  yards  broad,  on  which  the  mo- 
dern city  is  now  built.  These  collections  of  sand 
have  also  blocked  up  the  nearest  mouth  of  the  Nile, 
and  have  reduced  the  lake  Mareotis  almost  to  no- 
thing; while,in  the  course  of  the  same  period,theNile 

in  the  researches  of  M.  Prony,  respecting  the  alluvial  depositions  at 
the  mouths  of  the  Po—Transl. 
*  In  the  Journal  de  Physique,  vol.  XLIL 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  137 

has  deposited  alluvial  formations  all  along  the  rest 
of  the  coast.  In  the  time  of  Herodotus,  the  coast 
of  the  Delta  extended  in  a  straight  line,  and  is 
even  represented  in  that  direction  in  the  maps  con- 
structed for  the  geography  of  Ptolemy :  but  since 
then  the  coast  has  so  far  advanced  as  to  have  as- 
sumed a  semicircular  projection  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean, The  cities  of  Rosetta  and  Damietta,  built 
on  the  sea-coast  less  than  a  thousand  years  ago, 
are  now  two  leagues  distant  from  the  sea. 

We  may  learn  in  Holland  and  Italy,  how  rapidly 
the  Rhine,  the  Po,  and  the  Arno,  since  they  have 
been  confined  within  dikes,  now  elevate  their  beds, 
and  push  forward  the  alluvial  grounds  at  their 
mouths  towards  the  sea,  forming  long  projecting 
promontories  at  their  sides ;  and  it  may  be  con- 
cluded, from  this  assured  fact,  that  these  rivers 
have  not  required  the  lapse  of  many  centuries  to 
deposit  the  low  alluvial  plains  through  which  they 
now  flow. 

Many  cities,  which  were  flourishing  sea-ports 
in  well-known  periods  of  history,  are  now  seve- 
ral leagues  inland,  and  several  have  even  been 
ruined  by  this  change.  The  inhabitants  of  Venice 
at  present  find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  preserve 
the  lagunes,  by  which  that  once  celebrated  city 
is  separated  from  the  continent  of  Italy,  from  fil- 
ling up ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  she  will 

18 


138  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

some  day  become  united  to  the  main  land,  in  spite 
of  every  effort  to  preserve  her  insular  situation.* 

We  learn  from  Strabo,  that  Ravenna  stood 
among  lagunes,  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  as  Ve- 
nice does  now;  but  Ravenna  is  now  at  the  dis- 
tance of  a  league  from  the  sea.  Spina  had  been 
originally  built  by  the  Greeks  on  the  sea-coast ; 
but  in  the  time  of  Strabo  the  sea  was  removed  to 
the  distance  of  ninety  stadia.  This  city  has  been 
long  since  destroyed.  Adria,  which  gave  name  to 
the  Adriatic,  was,  somewhat  more  than  twenty 
centuries  ago,  the  chief  port  of  that  sea,  from 
which  it  is  now  at  the  distance  of  six  leagues. 
The  Abbe  Fortis  has  even  produced  strong  evi- 
dence for  believing  that  the  Euganian  hills  may 
have  been  islands,  at  a  period  somewhat  more 
remote. 

M.  de  Prony,  a  learned  member  of  the  Insti- 
tute, and  inspector-general  of  bridges  and  high- 
ways, has  communicated  to  me  some  very  valu- 
able observations,  to  explain  the  changes  which 
have  taken  place  on  the  flat  shores  usually  deno- 
minated the  Littoral  of  the  Adriatic,  and  which 
will  be  found  appended  to  this  Essay.  Having 
been  directed  by  government  to  examine  and  re- 
port upon  the  precautions  which  might  be  em- 


See  a  Memoir  qn  the  Lagunes   of  Venice,  by  M.  Forfait. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  139 

ployed  for  preventing  the  devastations  occasion- 
ed by  the  floods  of  the  Po,  he  ascertained  that 
this  river  has  so  greatly  raised  the  level  of  its  bot- 
tom, since  it  was  shut  in  by  dikes,  that  its  present 
surface  is  higher  than  the  roofs  of  the  houses  in 
Ferrara.  At  the  same  time,  the  alluvial  additions 
produced  by  this  river  have  advanced  so  rapidly 
into  the  sea,  that,  by  comparing  old  charts  with 
the  present  state,  the  coast  appears  to  have 
gained  no  less  than  fourteen  thousand  yards  since 
the  year  1604,  giving  an  average  of  an  hundred 
and  eighty  to  two  hundred  feet*  yearly  ;  and  in 
some  places  the  average  amounts  to  two  hundred 
feet.  The  Adige  and  the  Po  are  both  at  present 
higher  than  the  intervening  lands  ;  and  the  only 
remedy  for  preventing  the  disasters  which  are 
now  threatened  by  their  annual  overflowings, 
would  be  to  open  up  new  channels  for  the  more 
ready  discharge  of  their  waters,  through  the  low 
grounds  which  have  been  formed  by  their  alluvial 
depositions. 

Similar  causes  have  produced  similar  effects 
along  the  branches  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Maese  ; 
owing  to  which  all  the  richest  districts  of  Holland 
have  the  frightful  view  of  their  great  rivers  held  up 


*  In  the  appended  extract  from  the  Memoir  of  M.  Prony,  the 
older  average  yearly  increase  is  stated  at  25  metres,  or  82  English  feet 
and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  ;  and  the  average  of  the  last  200  years  at  70 
metres,  or  229  feet  7  inches  and  9-tenths  yearly.  —  TransL 


140  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

by  dikes,  at  the  height  of  twenty  or  even  thirty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  land. 

M.  Wiebeking,  director  of  bridges  and  highways 
in  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria,  has  given  an  excellent 
memoir  upon  this  subject,  so  highly  important  to  be 
known  and  understood  thoroughly,  both  by  the 
people  and  the  government,  in  all  countries  liable 
to  these  changes.  In  this  memoir  he  has  demon- 
strated that  all  rivers  are  continually  elevating  the 
levels  of  their  beds,  more  or  less,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances. 

This  formation  and  increase  of  new  grounds  by 
alluvial  depositions,  proceeds  with  as  much  rapidi- 
ty along  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea  as  on  those 
of  the  Adriatic.  These  additions  can  be  easily 
traced  in  Friesland  and  Groningen,  where  the 
epoch  of  the  first  dikes,  constructed  by  the  Spanish 
governor,  Gaspard  Robles,  is  well  known  to  have 
been  in  1570.  An  hundred  years  afterwards,  the 
alluvial  depositions  had  added  in  some  places  three 
quarters  of  a  league  of  new  land  on  the  outside  of 
these  dikes:  And  the  city  of  Groningen,  partly 
built  upon  the  ancient  soil  which  has  no  connexion 
with  the  present  sea,  being  a  calcarious  formation, 
in  which  the  same  species  of  shells  are  found  as  in 
the  coarse  limestone  formations  near  Paris,  is  only 
six  leagues  from  the  sea.  Having  been  upon  the 
spot,  I  can  give  my  testimony  to  the  facts  already 
so  well  stated  by  M.  Deluc  in  his  Letters  to  the- 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  141 

Queen  of  England.  The  same  phenomenon  is  as 
distinctly  observable  all  along  the  coasts  of  East 
Friesland,  and  the  countries  of  Bremen  and  Hoi- 
stein,  as  the  period  at  which  the  new  grounds  were 
enclosed  by  dikes  for  the  first  time  is  perfectly 
well  known,  and  the  extent  that  has  been  gained 
since  can  be  easily  measured.  These  new  alluvial 
lands,  left  by  the  sea  and  the  rivers,  are  of  asto- 
nishing fertility,  and  are  so  much  the  more  valuable 
as  the  ancient  soil  of  these  countries,  being  mostly 
covered  by  barren  heaths  and  peat-mosses,  is 
almost  incapable  of  cultivation ;  so  that  the  alluvial 
lands  alone  produce  subsistence  for  the  many  po- 
pulous cities  that  have  been  built  along  these 
coasts  since  the  middle  age,  and  which  probably 
might  not  have  reached  their  present  flourishing 
condition,  without  the  aid  of  these  rich  grounds, 
which  have  been,  as  it  were,  created  by  the  rivers, 
and  to  which  they  are  continually  making  ad- 
ditions. 

If  the  size  which  Herodotus  attributed  to  the 
sea  of  Asoph,  which  he  says  was  equal  to  the 
Euxine,*  had  been  less  vaguely  indicated,  and  if 
wre  could  certainly  ascertain  what  ne  understood 
to  be  the  Gerrhusrf  we  should  there  find  strong  ad- 
ditional proofs  of  the  great  changes  produced  by 
the  rivers,  and  of  the  rapidity  with  which  these 

*  Melpomene,  LXXXVI.  f  Ibid.  LVI, 


142  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

have  been  made.  The  alluvial  depositions  of  these 
rivers,  in  the  course  of  2250  years  since  the  time 
of  Herodotus,  have  reduced  the  sea  of  Asoph  to  its 
present  comparatively  small  size;  have  shut  up 
entirely  that  branch  of  the  Dneiper  which  formerly 
joined  the  Hypacyris,  and  discharged  its  waters 
along  with  that  river  into  the  gulf  called  Carcinitcs, 
now  the  Olu-Dcgnitz  ;  and  have  now  almost  reduced 
the  Hypacyris  and  the  Gerrhus  to  nothing.* 

We  should  possess  proofs  no  less  strong  of  the 
same  thing,  could  we  be  certain  that  the  Oxus  or 
Sihon,  which  flows  at  present  into  Lake  Aral,  for- 
merly reached  the  Caspian  sea :  But  the  proofs 
which  we  possess  on  all  these  points  are  too  vague, 
and  even  contradictory,  to  be  admitted  in  support 
of  physical  propositions,  and  besides,  we  are  in 
possession  of  facts  sufficiently  conclusive,  without 
being  under  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to 
those  which  are  doubtful. 

The  downs  or  sand-hills  which  are  thrown  up 
by  the  sea  upon  low  flat  coasts,  when  the  bed  of 
the  sea  happens  to  be  composed  of  sand,  have  been 

*  See  the  Geography  of  Herodotus  by  M.  Rennel,  and  the  Physical 
Geography  of  the  Black  Sea,  fcc.  by  M.  Bureau  de  la  Halle. 

In  the  latter  work,  p.  170,  M.  Bureau  supposes  Herodotus  to  have 
said  that  the  Boristhenes  and  the  Hypanis  flowed  into  the  Palus 
Meotis:  But  Herodotus,  in  Melpomene,  LIII.  only  says  that  these  two 
rivers  discharged  their  waters  into  the  same  marsh;  that  is,  into  the 
Liman,  exactly  as  in  the  present  day  ;  and  Herodotus  does  not  carry 
the  Gerrhus  and  the  Hypacyris  any  farther. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  143 

already  mentioned.  Wherever  human  industry 
has  not  succeeded  to  fix  these  downs,  they  advance 
as  surely  and  irresistibly  upon  the  land,  as  the  al- 
luvial formations  from  the  rivers  encroach  upon 
the  sea.  In  their  progress  inland,  they  push  before 
them  great  pools  of  water,  formed  by  the  rain  which 
falls  on  the  neighbouring  grounds,  and  which  has 
no  means  of  running  off  in  consequence  of  the  ob- 
structions interposed  by  the  downs.  In  several 
places  these  proceed  with  a  frightful  rapidity, 
overwhelming  forests,  houses,  and  cultivated  fields, 
in  their  irresistible  progress.  Those  upon  the  coast 
of  the  Bay  of  Biscay*  have  overwhelmed  a  great 
number  of  villages,  which  are  mentioned  in  the  re- 
cords of  the  middle  age ;  and  even  at  present,  in 
the  single  department  of  Landes,  they  threaten  no 
fewer  than  ten  with  almost  inevitable  destruction. 
One  of  these,  named  Mimigan,  has  been  in  danger 
for  the  last  fifteen  years  from  a  sand-hill  of  more 
than  sixty  feet  in  perpendicular  height,  which  obvi- 
ously continues  to  advance. 

In  the  year  1802,  the  pools  overwhelmed  five  fine 
farm-houses  belonging  to  the  village  of  St.  Julian,  f 
They  have  long  covered  up  an  ancient  Roman 
road,  leading  from  Bourdeaux  to  Bayonne,  and 
which  could  still  be  seen  about  thirty  years  ago, 
when  the  waters  were  lower  than  they  are  now.f 

*  See  Report  respecting  the  Downs  of  the  Gulf  of  Gascony,  or  Bay 
ef  Biscay,  by  M.  Tassin,  Mont-de-Marsan,  an.  X. 
f  Memoir  on  the  Means  of  fixing  the  Downs,  by  M.  Bremontier. 
\  Report  of  M.  Tassin,  formerly  cited. 


144  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

The  river  Adour,  which  is  formerly  known  to  have 
passed  Old  Boucat  to  join  the  sea  at  Cape  Breton, 
is  now  turned  to  the  distance  of  more  than  two 
thousand  four  hundred  yards. 

The  late  M.  Bremontier,  inspector  of  bridges  and 
highways,  who  made  several  extensive  works  to 
endeavour  to  stop  the  progress  of  these  downs, 
estimated  their  progress  at  sixty  feet  yearly,  and 
in  some  places  at  seventy-two  feet.  According 
to  this  calculation,  it  would  require  two  thousand 
years  to  enable  them  to  arrive  at  Bourdeaux ;  and, 
on  the  same  data,  they  have  taken  somewhat  more 
than  four  thousand  years  to  reach  their  present 
situations.* 

The  turbaries,  or  peat-mosses,  which  have  been 
formed  so  generally  in  the  northern  parts  of 
Europe,  by  the  accumulation  of  the  remains  of 
sphagnum  and  other  aquatic  mosses,  afford  another 
means  of  estimating  the  time  which  has  elapsed 
since  the  last  retreat  of  the  sea  from  our  present 
continents.  These  mosses  increase  in  height  in 
proportions  which  are  determinate  in  regard  to 
each.  They  surround  and  cover  up  the  small 
knolls  upon  which  they  are  formed;  and  several 
of  these  knolls  have  been  covered  over  within  the 
memory  of  man.  In  other  places  -the  mosses  gra- 
dually descend  along  the  valleys,  extending  down- 
wards like  the  glaciers  ;  but  these  latter  melt  every 

*  Memoir  of  M.  Brsmontier. 


THEORY  01  THE  EARTH.  145 

year  at  their  lower  edges,  while  the  mosses  are  not 
stopped  by  any  thing  whatever  in  their  regular  in- 
crease. By  sounding  their  depth  down  to  the  solid 
ground,  we  may  form  some  estimate  of  their  anti- 
quity ;  and  it  may  be  asserted  respecting  these 
mosses,  as  well  as  respecting  the  downs,  that  they 
do  not  derive  their  origin  from  an  indefinitely  an- 
cient epoch. 

The  same  observations  may  be  made  in  regard 
to  the  slips,  or  fallings,  which  sometimes  take 
place  at  the  bottom  of  all  steep  slopes  in  moun- 
tainous regions,  and  which  are  still  very  far  from 
having  covered  these  over.  But  as  no  precise 
measures  of  their  progress  have  hitherto  been  ap- 
plied, we  shall  not  insist  upon  them  at  any  greater 
length. 

< 

§  32.  Proofs,  from  Traditions,  of  a  great  Catastrophe^ 
and  subsequent  Renewal  of  Human  Society. 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  it  may  be  seen  that 
nature  everywhere  distinctly  informs  us  that  the 
commencement  of  the  present  order  of  things  can<- 
not  be  dated  at  a  very  remote  period ;  and  it  is 
very  remarkable,  that  mankind  everywhere  speak 
the  same  language  with  nature,  whether  we  consult 
their  natural  traditions  on  this  subject,  or  consider 
their  moral  and  political  state,  and  the  intellectual 
attainments  which  they  had  made  at  the  time  when 
they  began  to  have  authentic  historical  monu- 

19 


J46  THEORY  OP  TrfE  EARTH. 

ments.  For  this  purpose  we  may  consult  the 
tories  of  nations  in  their  most  ancient  books,  en* 
deavouring  to  discover  the  real  facts  which  they 
contain,  when  disengaged  from  the  interested  fic- 
tions which  often  render  the  truth  obscure. 

The  Pentateuch  has  existed  in  its  present  form 
at  least  ever  since  the  separation  of  the  ten  tribes 
under  Jeroboam,  since  it  was  received  as  authen- 
tic by  the  Samaritans  as  well  as  by  the  Jews ;  and 
this  assures  us  of  the  actual  antiquity  of  that  book 
being  not   less  than  two  thousand  eight  hundred 
years.*     Besides  this,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt 
of  the  book  of  Genesis  having  been  composed  by 
Moses,,  which  adds  five  hundred  years  to  its  an- 
tiquity. 

Moses  and  his  people  came  out  of  Egypt,  which 
is  universally  allowed  by  all  the  nations  of  the  west 
to  have  been  the  most  anciently  civilized  kingdom 
on  the  borders  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  legis- 
lator of  the  Jews  could  have  no  motive  for  short- 
ening the  duration  of  the  nations,  and  would  even 
have  disgraced  himself  in  the  estimation  of  his 
own,  if  he  had  promulgated  a  history  of  the  humaR 
race  contradictory  to  that  which  they  must  have 
learnt  by  tradition  in  Egypt.  We  may  therefore 
conclude,  that  the  Egyptians  had  at  this  time  no 


*  Introduction  to  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  Eichhorn. 
j  189$, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  147 

tfther  notions  respecting  the  antiquity  of  the  hu- 
man race  than  are  contained  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 
And,  as  Moses  establishes  the  event  of  an  univer- 
sal catastrophe,  occasioned  by  an  irruption  of  the 
waters,  and  followed  by  an  almost  entire  renewal 
*)f  the  human  race,  and  as  he  has  only  referred  it 
to  an  epoch  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  years  pre- 
vious to  his  own  time,  even  according  to  those  co- 
pies which  allow  the  longest  interval,  it  must  ne- 
cessarily have  occurred  rather  less  than  five  thou- 
sand years  before  the  present  day.* 

The  same  notions  seem  to  have  prevailed  in 
Chaldea  on  this  subject ;  as  Berosus,  who  wrote 
at  Babylon  in  the  time  of  Alexander,  speaks  of 
the  Deluge  nearly  in  the  same  terms  with  Moses, 
and  supposes  it  to  have  happened  immediately  be- 
fore Belus,  the  father  of  Ninus.t 

Whatever  may  be  the  authenticity  of  the  wri- 
tings attributed  to  Sanconiatho,  he  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  mentioned  the  Deluge  in  his  His- 
tory of  Phcemcia.J  Yet  this  event  seems  to  have 

*  Joseph.  Antiq.  Jud.  lib.  I.  cap.  8.— Eusebii,  Praep.  Evang.  lib. 
IX.  cap.  4. — Syncelli,  Chronogr. 

f  Eusebii,  Praep.  Ev.  lib.  I.  cap.  10. 

t  The  Deluge,  according  to  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  scriptures,  took 
place  2348  years  before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  or 
4160  years  before  the  present  year  1813.  The  creation  of  the  world, 
on  the  same  authority,  was  5817  years  ago;  but  the  Samaritan  text 
extends  that  event  to  the  distance  of  6513  years,  and  the  Septuagint 
to  7685  years. — Trtmsl. 


148  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

been  believed  in  Syria,  as  they  showed  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Hieropolis,  at  a  period  indeed  long  after, 
the  abyss  through  which  they  pretended  that  its 
waters  had  run  off.* 

Even  in  Egypt  this  tradition  appears  to  have 
been  forgotten,  as  we  do  not  find  any  traces  of 
it  in  the  most  ancient  remaining  fragments  from 
that  country.  All  of  these  indeed  are  posterior 
to  the  devastations  committed  by  Cambyses ;  and 
the  little  agreement  there  is  among  them  suffi- 
ciently proves  that  they  had  been  derived  from 
mutilated  fragments :  For  we  cannot  establish  the 
smallest  probable  conformity  between  the  lists  of 
the  kings  of  Egypt,  as  given  by  Herodotus  in  the 
era  of  Artaxerxes,  by  Erastosthenes  and  Manetho 
under  the  Ptolemies,  and  by  Diodorus  in  the  reign 
of  Augustus :  neither  do  they  agree  among  them- 
selves in  the  extracts  which  they  pretend  to  have 
taken  from  the  writings  of  Manetho.t  Yet  the 
Egyptian  mythology  seems  to  allude  to  these  great 
events  in  the  fabulous  adventures  of  Typhon  and 
Osiris.  Besides,  if  the  priests  of  Sais  really  gave 
the  accounts  to  Solon,  which  are  repeated  by  Cri- 
tias  in  the  writings  of  Plato,  we  must  conclude 
that  they  had  preserved  some  very  exact  traditions 
of  a  great  revolution,  though  they  had  removed 
its  epoch  much  farther  back  than  was  done  by 

*  Lucian,  de  Dea  Syria. 
t  See  the  English  Ancient  Universal  History,  vol.  I. 


-  •••    ''*'''  '•  *•*••"*' 

THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  119 

Moses.  They  had  even  theoretically  devised  a 
series  of  alternate  revolutions ;  one  set  occasion- 
ed by  means  of  water,  and  the  other  by  means  of 
fire ;  which  notion  had  also  prevailed  among  the 
Assyrians,  and  even  in  Etruria. 

The  Greeks,  who  derived  their  civilization  at 
a  late  period  from  Phoenicia  and  Egypt,  mixed 
the  confused  ideas  which  they  had  received  of  the 
mythologies  of  these  nations  with  the  equally  con- 
fused vestiges  of  their  own  earliest  history.  The 
sun,  personified  under  the  name  of  Ammon,  or  the 
Egyptian  Jupiter,  was  converted  into  a  prince  of 
Crete.  Phta,  the  grand  artisan  or  creator  of  all 
things,  was  converted  into  Hephestes,  or  Vulcan, 
a  smith  of  Lemnos.  CAom,  another  symbol  of  the 
sun,  or  of  the  divine  power,  was  transformed  into 
Heracles,  or  Hercules,  a  prodigiously  strong  hero 
of  Thebes.  The  cruel  Moloch  of  the  Phoenicians, 
the  same  with  the  Remphah  of  the  Egyptians,  be- 
came with  them  Cronos,  or  Time,  who  devour- 
ed his  own  children,  and  was  afterwards  meta- 
morphosed into  Saturn,  King  of  Italy.*  When 
any  violent  inundation  took  place  during  the  reign 
of  any  of  their  princes,  the  Greeks  afterwards  de- 

*  See  Jablonsky,  Pantheon  .^Egyptiacum,  and  Gatterer,  de  Theo- 
gonia  Egyptiorum,  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Gottingen  Memoirs. 

These  two  authors  do  not  agree  any  more  than  the  ancients,  as  to 
the  significations  of  the  Egyptian  divinities  ;  but  they  perfectly  agree 
with  each  other,  and  with  the  ancient  writers,  as  to  the  gross  altera- 
tions made  respecting  them  by  the  Greeks. 


15U  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

scribed  it  with  all  the  circumstances  which  had 
been  handed  down  to  them  by  tradition  respect- 
ing the  great  deluge ;  and  they  represented  Deu- 
calion as  having  repeopled  the  earth,  yet  allowed 
a  lengthened  posterity  to  his  uncle  Atlas. 

The  incoherence  of  all  these  traditionary  tales, 
while  they  attest  the  barbarism  and  ignorance  of 
all  the  tribes  around  the  Mediterranean,  attest 
also  the  recentness  of  their  establishments;  and 
this  very  circumstance  is  in  itself  a  strong  proof 
of  the  existence  of  a  great  catastrophe.  The 
Egyptians,  it  is  true,  spoke  of  hundreds  of  cen- 
turies, but  these  were  filled  by  a  succession  of 
gods  and  demi-gods ;  and  it  is  in  a  great  degree 
ascertained  in  modern  times,  that  the  long  series 
of  years  and  of  successive  human  kings  which  they 
placed  after  the  demi-gods,  and  before  the  usur- 
pation of  the  shepherds,  belonged  only  to  the  suc- 
cessions of  contemporaneous  chiefs  of  several  small 
states,  instead  of  a  single  series  of  successive  kings 
•f  all  Egypt. 

Macrobius*  assures  us  that  collections  of  ob- 
servations of  eclipses  made  in  Egypt  were  preserv- 
ed, which  presupposed  uninterrupted  labour  for 
at  least  twelve  hundred  years  before  the  reign  of 
Alexander.  How  comes  it  then,  had  this  been 
the  case,  that  Ptolemy  should  not  have  availed 

*Jhij5oxnnio  Scipionis,  21, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.          151 

himself  of  any  of  these  observations,  though  made 
in  the  country  where  he  wrote  ? 

There  was  no  great   empire  as  yet  established 
in  Asia  at  the  time  of  Moses.     Even  the  Greeks, 
notwithstanding  their    ingenuity    in  inventing   fa- 
bles, did  not  pretend  even  to  invent  an  antiquity 
for  their  own  nation ;  for  the  most  ancient   colo- 
nies from  Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  by  which  they  were 
reclaimed  from  a  state  of  barbarism,   are  not  car- 
ried back  more  than  four  thousand  years  from  the 
present  era;    and  the   most    ancient   authors   in 
which  these   colonies  are  mentioned,  are  a  thou- 
sand years   posterior  to  the  events.     The  Phoeni^ 
eians  themselves  had  only  been  recently  establish- 
ed in  Syria,  when  they  began   to  form  establish- 
ments in  Greece. 

The  astronomical  observations  of  the  Chal- 
deans, sent  by  Calisthenes  to  Aristotle,  are  said, 
to  have  gone  back  for  a  period  of  four  thousand 
years,  if  Simplicius  is  to  be  credited,  who  reports 
the  story  six  hundred  years  after  Aristotle.  But 
the  authenticity  of  this  is  exceedingly  doubtful, 
as  the  Chaldean  observations  of  eclipses  actually 
preserved  and  cited  by  Ptolemy,  do  not  go  back 
more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  years.*  At 

*  It  is  not  quite  obvious,  from  the  language  of  the  author,  whether 
these  are  meant  as  pointing  backwards  from  the  respective  epoch  of 
Aristotle  and  Ptolemy,  or  only  from  the  present  day:  the  latter  mtfsti 
kewerer,  be  the  case.— TrtuisL 


152  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

all  events,  the  Babylonian,  or  first  Assyrian  em- 
pire, could  not  have  been  long  powerful,  as  there 
remained  all  around  many  unsubjected  tribes,  such 
as  all  those  of  Syria,  until  after  the  establishment 
of  what  is  called  the  Second  Kingdom  of  Assyria, 
The  thousands  of  years  therefore  which  the  Chal- 
deans assumed,  must  have  been  equally  fabulous 
with  those  of  the  Egyptians ;  or  rather  may  be  con-, 
sidered  as  astronomical  periods,  calculated  back- 
wards upon  the  basis  of  inaccurate  observations : 
or  merely  as  imaginary  and  arbitrary  cycles,  mul- 
tiplied into  themselves.* 

The  most  reasonable  among  the  ancients  were 
of  the  same  opinion,  and  have  only  carried  back 
the  reigns  of  Ninus  and  Semiramis,  the  earliest 
of  the  conquerors,  a  little  more  than  four  thou- 
sand years.  After  them  history  continues  long 
silent;t  whence  it  may  even  be  strongly  suspected 
that  these  were  only  late  inventions  of  the  his- 
torians. 

Our  existing  civilization  and  learning  have  been 
uninterruptedly  transmitted  down  to  us  from  the 
Egyptians  and  Phoenicians,  through  the  Greeks 
and  Romans;  and  we  have  derived  immediately 
from  the  Jews  our  more  pure  ideas  of  morals  and 
religion.  Some  small  portions  of  knowledge  have 

*  See  Memoire  of  D.  de  Guignes  in  the  Acad.  des  Belles  Lettre?, 
Tom.  XL VII.  and  the  voyage  of  M.  GentH.  I.  £41. 
f  See  Velleius  Paterculus  and  Justin. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  153 

also  come  down  to  us  from  the  Jews  and  Greeks, 
which  they  had  derived  variously  from  the  Chal- 
deans, the  Persians,  and  the  Indians ;  and  it  is  a 
most  remarkable  circumstance,  that  all  these  na- 
tions form  only  one  original  race,  resembling  each 
other  in  their  physiognomies,  and  even  in  many 
conventional  matters,  such  as  their  divinities,  the 
names  of  the  constellations,  and  even  in  the  roots 
of  their  languages.* 

The  Hindoos,  perhaps  the  most  anciently  ci- 
vilized people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  who 
have  least  deviated  from  their  originally  establish- 
ed forms,  have  unfortunately  no  history.  Among 
an  infinite  number  of  books  of  mystical  theology 
and  abstruse  metaphysics,  they  do  not  possess  a 
single  volume  that  is  capable  of  affording  any  dis- 
tinct account  of  their  origin,  or  of  the  various 
events  that  have  occurred  to  their  communities. 
Their  Maha-Bharata,  or  pretended  great  history, 
is  nothing  more  than  a  poem.  The  Pouranas  are 
mere  legends ;  on  comparing  which  with  the  Greek 
and  Latin  authors,  it  is  excessively  difficult  to  es- 

*  For  the  analogy  of  the  languages  of  India,  Persia,  and  our  west- 
ern world,  see  the  Mithridates  of  Adelung.  On  the  analogy  of  the 
deities  of  the  Indians,  Egyptians,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  consult  the 
works  of  Jablonsky  and  Gatterer,  already  cited  ;  as  also  the  Memoir  of 
Sir  William  Jones,  with  the  notes  of  M.  Langles,  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  French  translation  of  the  Calcutta  Memoirs,  p.  192,  et  seq.  The 
identity  of  the  constellations,  especially  of  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  be- 
tween the  Hindoos  and  the  most  western  nations,  with  the  names 
given  to  the  days  of  the  week,  &c.  are  now  universally  known, 

20 


154  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

tablish  a  few  slight  coincidences  of  chronology,  and 
even  that  is  continually  broken  off  and  interrupted, 
and  never  goes  back  farther  than  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander.* 

It  is  now  clearly  proved  that  their  famous  as- 
tronomical tables,  from  which  it  has  been  attempt- 
ed to  assign  a  prodigious  antiquity  to  the  Hindoos, 
have  been  calculated  backwards  ;t  and  it  has 
been  lately  ascertained,  that  their  Surya-Siddhanta, 
which  they  consider  as  their  most  ancient  astro- 
nomical treatise,  and  pretend  to  have  been  re- 
vealed to  their  nation  more  than  two  millions  of 
years  ago,  must  have  been  composed  within  the 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  years  last  past.J  Their 
Vedas,  or  sacred  books,  judging  from  the  calen- 
dars which  are  conjoined  with  them,  and  by 
which  they  are  guided  in  their  religious  obser- 
vances, and  estimating  the  colures  indicated  in 
these  calendars,  may  perhaps  go  back  about 
three  thousand  two  hundred  years,  which  near- 
ly coincides  with  the  epoch  of  Moses.§  Yet 
the  Hindoos  are  not  entirely  ignorant  of  the  re- 

*  Consult  the  elaborate  Memoir  of  M.  Paterson,  respecting  the 
kings  of  Magadaha,  emperors  of  Hindostan,  and  upon  the  epochs  of 
Vicramadityia  and  Salahanna,  in  the  Calcutta  Memoirs,  vol.  IX. 

f  See  Expos,  du  Syst.  du  Monde,  by  M.  de  la  Place,  p.  S30. 

|  See  the  Memoir  by  M.  Bentley,  on  the  Antiquity  of  the  Surya-Sidd- 
hanta,  in  the  Calcutta  Memoirs,  vol.  VI.  p.  537,  and  the  Memoir  by 
the  same  Author  on  the  Astronomical  Systems  of  the  Hindoos,  ibid. 
vol.  IX.  p.  195. 

^  See  the  Memoir  by  M.  Colebrooke  upon  the  Vedas,  and  particu- 
larly p.  493,  in  the  Calcutta  Memoirs,  vol.  VIII. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  155 

volutions  which  have  affected  the  globe,  as 
their  theology  has  in  some  measure  consecrated 
certain  successive  destructions  which  its  surface 
has  already  undergone,  and  is  still  doomed  to  ex- 
perience ;  and  they  only  carry  back  the  last  of 
those,  which  have  already  happened,  about  five 
thousand  years;*  besides  which,  one  of  these  revo- 
lutions is  described  in  terms  nearly  corresponding 
with  the  account  given  by  Moses.f  It  is  also  very 
remarkable,  that  the  epoch  at  which  they  fix  the 
commencement  of  the  reigns  of  their  first  human 
sovereigns,  of  the  race  of  the  Sun  and  Moon,  is 
nearly  the  same  at  which  the  ancient  authors  of 
the  west  have  placed  the  origin  of  the  Assyrian 
monarchy,  or  about  four  thousand  years  ago. 

*  Voyage  to  India  by  M  Le  Gentil,  I.  235.— Bentley  in  the  Calcut- 
ta Memoirs,  vol.  IX.  p.  222. — Paterson,  in  ditto,  ibid.  p.  86. 

f  Sir  William  Jones,  in  the  Calcutta  Memoirs,  French  translation, 
vol.  I.  p.  170. 

The  English  reader  may  be  gratified  by  the  following  extract  from 
this  dissertation  of  Sir  William  Jones. — Transl. 

"We  may  fix  the  time  of  Buddah,  or  the  ninth  great  incarnation  of 
Vishnu,  in  the  year  1014  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  The  Cashmi- 
rians,  who  boast  of  his  descent  in  their  kingdom,  assert  that  he  appeared 

on  earth  about  two  centuries  after  Crishna,  the  Indian  Apollo 

We  have  therefore  determined  another  interesting  epoch,  by  fix. 
ing  the  age  of  Crishna  near  the  year  1214,  before  Christ.  As  the  three 
first  avatars  or  descents  of  Vishnu,  relate  no  less  clearly  to  an  Univer- 
sal Deluge,  in  which  eight  persons  only  were  saved,  than  the  fourth 
and  fifth  do  to  the  punishment  of  impiety  and  the  humiliation  of  the 
proud  ;  we  may  for  the  present  assume  that  the  second,  or  silver  age 
of  the  Hindus,  was  subsequent  to  the  dispersion  from  Babel;  so  that 
we  have  only  a  dark  interval  of  about  a  thousand  years,  which  were 
employed  in  the  settlement  of  nations,  and  the  cultivation  of  civi- 
lized society."-—  Works  of  Sir  William  Jones,  I, 29,  4to.  London,  1799. 


j.56  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

It  were  quite  in  yain  to  attempt  looking  for  any 
indications  of  these  great  events  among  the  people 
of  more  southern  regions,  such  as  the  Arabians  or 
Abyssinians,  as  their  ancient  books  are  no  longer 
existing;  and  the  only  histories  they  possess  rela- 
tive to  remote  antiquity  are  of  recent  compilation, 
and  have  been  modelled  after  our  Bible:  hence 
all  that  their  books  contain  respecting  the  de- 
luge is  borrowed  from  Genesis,  and  does  not  con- 
tribute any  support  to  its  authority.  The  Gue- 
bres,  however,  or  Parsis,  who  are  now  the  sole 
depositories  of  the  doctrines  of  Zoroaster  and  the 
ancient  Persians,  speaks  also  of  an  universal  de- 
luge as  having  happened  before  the  reign  ofCayou- 
niarats,  their  first  king. 

In  order  to  recover  some  truly  historical  traces 
of  the  last  grand  cataclysma,  or  universal  deluge,  we 
must  go  beyond  the  vast  deserts  of  Tartary,  where? 
in  the  north-east  of  our  ancient  continent,  we  meet 
with  a  race  of  men  differing  entirely  from  us,  as 
much  in  their  manners  and  customs,  as  they  do  in 
their  form  and  constitution.  Their  oral  language 
is  entirely  monosyllabic,  and  they  use  arbitrary 
hieroglyphics  instead  of  writing.  They  only  pos- 
sess a  system  of  political  morals,  without  any  es- 
tablished religion ;  as  the  superstitions  of  the  sect 
of  Fo  have  been  imported  by  them  from  India. 
Their  yellow  skins,  high  cheek-bones,  narrow  and 
oblique  eyes,  and  thinly  scattered  beards,  give 
them  an  appearance  so  entirely  different  from  us. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  157 

that  one  is  almost  tempted  to  suspect  that  their  an- 
cestors and  ours  had  escaped  from  the  last  grand 
catastrophe  at  two  different  sides :  but,  however 
this  may  have  been,  they  date  their  deluge  nearly 
at  the  same  period  with  ours. 

The  Chou-King,*  the  most  ancient  of  the  Chi- 
nese books,  is  said  to  have  been  compiled  by  Con- 
fucius, about  two  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago, 
from  fragments  of  more  ancient  works.  Two  hun- 
dred years  afterwards,  under  the  Emperor  Chi- 
hoang-ti,  the  men  of  letters  were  persecuted,  and 
all  books  were  destroyed.  About  forty  years  af- 
ter this  persecution,  an  old  literati  restored  a  por- 
tion of  the  Chou  King  from  memory,  and  another 
portion  was  recovered  that  had  been  concealed  in 
a  tomb;  but  nearly  the  half  was  lost  for  ever. 
This,  which  is  considered  as  the  most  authentic  of 
all  the  Chinese  books,  begins  the  history  of  the 
country  with  an  emperor  named  Yao,  whom  it  re- 
presents as  having  let  loose  the  waters,  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  :  Having  raised  himself  to  heaven,  Yao 
bathed  the  feet  even  of  the  highest  mountains,  covered  the 
less  elevated  hills,  and  rendered  the  plains  impassable. 
According  to  some  accounts,  the  reign  of  Yao  was 
four  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago ;  while 
others  only  carry  it  back  to  three  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  thirty  years  before  the  present  time. 

*  S^e  the  preface  to  the  translation  of  the  Chou-King,  by  M.  de 
Guigne.s. 


158  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

The  same  book,  only  a  few  pages  farther  on* 
introduces  one  YW,  prime  minister  and  chief  en- 
gineer, re-establishing  the  courses  of  the  rivers, 
building  dikes,  digging  canals,  and  regulating  the 
taxes  of  all  the  provinces  of  China,  that  is,  of  an 
empire  which  extends  six  hundred  leagues  in  all 
directions.  But  the  utter  impossibility  of  such 
operations,  immediately  after  such  events,  shows 
clearly  that  the  whole  story  can  only  be  consid- 
ered as  a  moral  and  political  romance. 

More  modern  Chinese  historians  have  intro- 
duced a  long  series  of  emperors  before  Yao,  which 
they  have  combined  with  a  multitude  of  fabulous 
circumstances,  yet  without  venturing  to  assign  any 
fixed  dates  to  their  reigns.  These  writers  also 
continually  differ  from  each  other,  both  in  the 
number  and  names  of  the  kings  ;  and  none  of  them 
are  universally  approved  on  this  subject  by  their 
countrymen. 

The  introduction  of  astronomy  into  China  is 
attributed  to  Yao;  but  the  real  eclipses  recorded 
by  Confucius,  in  his  Chronicle  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Low,  only  go  back  two  thousand  six  hundred  years, 
hardly  half  a  century  higher  than  those  of  the 
Chaldeans,  as  related  by  Ptolemy.  In  the  Chou- 
King  indeed,  there  is  an  eclipse  mentioned  which 
goes  back  three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  years,  but  which  is  related  with  the  addition 
of  so  many  absurd  circumstances,  that  it  has  been 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

probably  invented  at  a  subsequent  period.  A  con- 
junction also  is  stated  as  having  happened  four 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  years  ago, 
which  would  therefore  be  the  most  ancient  known 
astronomical  observation,  but  its  authenticity  is 
contested.  The  earliest  observation  that  ap- 
pears to  rest  upon  good  grounds,  is  one  made  by 
means  of  a  gnomon,  two  thousand  nine  hundred 
years  ago. 

It  is  not  to  be  conceived  that  mere  chance 
should  have  thus  given  rise  to  so  striking  a  coin- 
cidence between  the  traditions  of  the  Assyrians, 
the  Hindoos,  and  the  Chinese,  in  attributing  the 
origins  of  their  respective  monarchies  so  nearly 
to  the  same  epoch,  of  about  four  thousand  years 
before  the  present  day.  The  ideas  of  these  three 
nations,  which  have  so  few  features  of  resemblance, 
or  rather  which  are  so  entirely  dissimilar  in  lan- 
guage, religion,  and  laws,  could  not  have  so  ex- 
actly agreed  on  this  point,  unless  it  had  been 
founded  upon  truth. 

We  do  not  require  any  specific  dates  from  the 
natives  of  America,  who  were  not  possessed  of  any 
real  writing,  and  whose  most  ancient  traditions 
only  go  back  a  few  centuries  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Spaniards.  Yet  even  among  them  some  traces 
of  a  deluge  are  conceived  to  have  been  found  in 
'their  barbarous  hieroglyphics.* 

*  See  the  excellent  and  magnificent  work  of  Humboldt,  upon  the 
monuments  of  the  Mexican?. 


160  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

The  Negroes,  the  most  degraded  race 
men,  whose  forms  approach  nearest  to  those  of 
the  inferior  animals,  and  whose  intellect  has  riot 
yet  arrived  at  the  establishment  of  any  re- 
gular form  of  government,  nor  at  anything  which 
has  the  least  appearance  of  systematic  know- 
ledge, have  preserved  no  sort  of  annals  or  of 
tradition;  and  from  them  therefore  we  are  not 
to  expect  any  information  on  the  subject  of  our 
present  researches.  Yet  even  the  circumstances 
of  their  character  clearly  evince  that  they  also 
have  escaped  from  the  last  grand  catastrophe, 
perhaps  by  another  route  than  the  races  of  the 
caucassan  and  altaic  chains,  from  whom  perhaps 
they  may  have  been  long  separated  before  the 
epoch  of  that  catastrophe. 

Thus  all  the  nations  which  possess  any  records 
or  ancient  traditions,  uniformly  declare  that  they 
have  been  recently  renewed,  after  a  grand  revo- 
lution in  nature.  This  concurrence  of  historical 
and  traditionary  testimonies,  respecting  a  com- 
paratively recent  renewal  of  the  human  race,  and 
their  agreement  with  the  proofs  that  are  furnished 
by  the  operations  of  nature,  which  have  been  al- 
ready considered,  might  certainly  warrant  us  in 
refraining  from  the  examination  of  certain  equivo- 
cal monuments,  which  have  been  brought  forward 
by  some  authors  in  support  of  a  contrary  opinion.*  ft 
But  even  this  examination,  to  judge  of  it  by  some 
attempts  already  made,  will  probably  do  nothing 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  161 

else  than  add  some  more  proofs  to  that  which  is 
furnished  by  tradition. 

§  33.    Proofs     derived  from     several    Micellaneous 
Consideration. 

It  does  not  now  appear  that  the  famous  zodiac 
in  the  porch  of  the  temple   at  Dendera,  can  sup- 
port the  opinion  which  some  have  been  disposed 
to  deduce   from  it,  respecting  the  high  antiquity 
of  the  present  race  of  mankind.     Nothing  can  be 
drawn   for  this  purpose,  from  its  division  into  two 
bands  of  six  signs  each,  as  indicative  of  the  posi- 
tion of  the  colures  produced  by  the  precession  of 
the  equinoxes,  or  to  show  that  these  do  not  merely 
answer  to  the  commencement  of  the  civil  year  of 
the  Egyptians  at  the  period  when  it  was  drawn. 
As  the  civil  year  in   Egypt  consisted  exactly  of 
three  hundred   and  sixty-five  days,  it  made  the 
tour  of  the  zodiac  in  fifteen  hundred  and  eight 
years ;    or,    according    to    the   Egyptians,  which 
shows  that  they  had  not  observed   it  in  fourteen 
hundred  and  sixty  years.     In  the   same    temple 
there  is  another  zodiac,  in  which  the  sign  Virgo  is 
represented  as  beginning  the  year.     If  these  cir- 
cumstances were  connected  with  the  position  of 
the  solstice,  this  other  zodiac  in  the  interior  of  the 
temple  must  have  been  drawn  two  thousand  years 
before  that  in  the  porch ;  but  supposing  it  to  re- 
present the  commencement  of  the  civil  year,  an  in- 
terval of  very  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  is 

21 


162  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

quite  sufficient  to  reconcile  the  two  zodiacs  with 
each  other. 

It  may  be  inquired  also,  whether  our  zodiac  may 
not  contain  some  internal  proofs  of  its  antiquity, 
and  whether  the  figures  which  have  been  employ- 
ed to  represent  its  signs  or  constellations,  may  not 
have  some  reference  to  the  colures  at  the  epoch 
when  they  were  adopted.  All,  however,  that  has 
been  advanced  on  this  subject,  is  founded  on  alle- 
gories, supposed  to  be  contained  in  the  several 
figures.  Thus  it  has  been  supposed,  that  Libra,  or 
the  balance,  indicated  the  equality  of  the  days 
and  nights ;  Taurus,  or  the  bull,  the  season  of  la- 
bouring the  earth ;  Cancer,  or  the  crab,  a  retrogra- 
dation  of  the  sun;  Virgo,  the  season  of  gathering 
in  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  and  so  of  the  rest.  All 
this  is  mere  bold  conjecture :  But  besides,  these 
explanations  must  necessarily  vary  for  every  coun- 
try ;  and  it  would  be  requisite  to  assign  a  different 
epoch  to  each  separate  zodiac,  according  to  the 
climate  of  the  country  in  which  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  invented ;  nay,  perhaps,  there  may  be 
no  climate  and  no  epoch  in  conformity  with  which 
rational  explanations  could  be  devised  for  all  the 
signs.  It  is  also  possible,  that  these  names  may 
have  been  given  at  a  very  remote  period,  without 
reference  at  all  to  the  divisions  of  time  or  space, 
or  to  the  different  states  of  the  sun  in  its  course, 
just  as  they  are  now  given  by  astronomers :  and 
may  Jiave  been  applied  to  the  constellations  or 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  1  63 

groups  of  stars,  as  referring  to  a  particular  epoch 
merely  by  chance ;  so  that  nothing  whatever  can 
be  deduced  from  their  significations.* 

It  may  be  objected,  that  the  advanced  state  of 
astronomy  among  these  ancients  is  a  striking  proof 
of  their  high  antiquity,  and  that  it  must  have  re- 
quired a  vast  many  centuries  of  observations  by 
the  Chaldeans  and  Indians  to  enable  them  to  ac- 
quire the  knowledge  which  they  certainly  possess- 
ed nearly  three  thousand  years  ago,  respecting  the 
length  of  the  year,  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes, 
the  relative  motions  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and 
several  other  important  circumstances.  But  to  ex- 
plain all  this,  without  the  necessity  of  any  prodi- 
gious antiquity,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  a  nation 
may  well  be  expected  to  make  rapid  progress  in 
any  particular  science  that  has  no  other  to  attend 
to ;  and  that  with  the  Chaldeans  especially,  the 
perpetual  serenity  arid  clearness  of  their  sky,  the 
pastoral  life  which  they  led,t  and  the  peculiar  su- 

*  See  the  dissertation  by  M.  de  Guignes  respecting  the  zodiacs  of 
the  oriental  nations,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Let- 
tres,vol.  XLVII. 

f  It  may  he  here  noticed,  that  our  present  shepherds  have  infinitely 
more  practical  knowledge  of  astronomy,  merely  from  being  so  much 
in  the  open  air,  almost  unemployed,  than  all  the  other  ordinary  ranks 
in  society.  An  instance  of  astonishingly  rapid  progress  in  that  science 
was  exhibited  in  our  own  day  by  the  celebrated  James  Ferguson,  who 
constructed  an  accurate  map  of  the  heavens  when  a  herd-boy,  entirely 
from  his  own  untutored  genius.  Had  astronomy  been  then  a  non- 
existent science,  even  he  might  have  carried  it  almost  as  far  as  the 
Chaldeans  in  a  single  lifetime;  and  perhaps,  in  mapping  the  he.ave.Ds 
he  went  farther  even  than  all  the  astronomers  of  Chaldea. — Transl. 


164  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

perstition  to  which  they  were  addicted,  rendered 
the  stars  a  general  object  of  attention.  They  had 
also  colleges,  or  societies  of  their  most  respectable 
men,  appointed  to  make  astronomical  observations, 
and  to  put  them  upon  record.  Let  us  suppose, 
also,  that  among  so  many  persons  who  had  nothing 
else  to  do,  there  were  two  or  three  possessed  of 
singular  talents  for  the  study  of  geometrical  science, 
and  every  thing  known  to  that  people  might 
easily  have  been  accomplished  in  a  very  few  cen- 
turies. 

Since  the  time  of  the  Chaldeans,  real  astrono- 
my has  only  had  two  eras ;  that  of  the  Alexandrian 
school,  which  lasted  four  centuries,  and  that  of 
our  own  times,  which  had  not  yet  lasted  so  long. 
The  learned  period  of  the  Arabs  hardly  added 
anything  to  that  science,  and  all  the  other  ages  of 
the  world  were  mere  blanks  with  respect  to  it. 
Three  hundred  years  did  not  intervene  between 
Copernicus  and  De  la  Place,  the  celebrated  author 
of  the  Mecanique  Celeste  ;  yet  some  wish  to  believe, 
that  the  Hindoos  must  have  had  many  thousand 
years  to  discover  their  astronomical  rules.  After 
all,  even  were  every  thing  that  has  been  fancied 
respecting  the  antiquity  of  astronomy  as  fully 
proved  as  it  appears  to  us  destitute  of  proof,  it 
would  establish  no  conclusion  against  the  great 
catastrophe,  which  has  left  in  other  respects  so 
many  convincing  monuments  of  its  own  existence. 
All  that  it  is  necessary  to  admit,  even  on  that  sup- 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 


position,  is,  what  some  moderns  have  thought,  — 
That  astronomy  was  among  the  number  of  the 
sciences  that  were  preserved  by  the  small  number 
of  men  who  escaped  from  that  catastrophe. 

The  antiquity  of  certain  mining  operations  has 
also  been  prodigiously  exaggerated  by  some  wri- 
ters. A  recent  writer  pretends  that  the  mines  of 
the  island  of  Elba,  to  judge  from  their  wastes,  must 
have  been  explored  above  forty  thousand  years 
ago  ;  while  another  author,  who  has  also  examined 
these  wastes  with  much  attention,  reduces  the  in- 
terval to  somewhat  more  than  five  thousand  years, 
supposing  that  the  ancients  wrought  out  every 
year  one-fourth  only  of  the  quantity  that  is  wrought 
out  in  the  present  day.*  We  have  no  reason, 
however,  to  believe  that  the  Romans,  who  consum- 
ed so  much  iron  in  their  armies,  were  so  slow  in 
their  mining  operations  as  this  high  antiquity  of 
the  mines  of  Elba  would  imply  ;  and  besides,  even 
if  these  mines  had  been  wrought  for  no  more  than 
four  thousand  years,  how  should  it  have  been  that 
iron  was  so  little  known  among  the  ancients  in 
the  first  ages  of  Greece  and  Rome  ? 

§  34.  Concluding  Reflections. 
I  am  of  opinion,  then,  with  M.  Deluc  and  M. 


*  See  History  of  China,  before  the  Deluge  of  the  Ogigians,  by  3VL 
de  Fortin  d'Urban,  II.  33. 


166  THEORY  OF  THE  E 

Dolomieu, — That,  if  there  is  any  circumstance 
thoroughly  established  in  geology,  it  is,  that  the 
crust  of  our  globe  has  been  subjected  to  a  great 
and  sudden  revolution,  the  epoch  of  which  cannot 
be  dated  much  farther  back  than  five  or  six  thou- 
sand years  ago ;  that  this  revolution  had  buried  all 
the  countries  which  were  before  inhabited  by  men 
and  by  the  other  animals  that  are  now  best  known; 
that  the  same  revolution  had  laid  dry  the  bed  of 
the  last  ocean,  which  now  forms  all  the  coun- 
tries at  present  inhabited ;  that  the  small  number 
of  individuals  of  men  and  other  animals  that 
escaped  from  the  effects  of  that  great  revolu- 
tion, have  since  propagated  and  spread  over  the 
lands  then  newly  laid  dry;  and  consequently,  that 
the  human  race  has  only  resumed  a  progressive 
state  of  improvement  since  that  epoch,  by  forming 
established  societies,  raising  monuments,  collecting 
natural  facts,  and  constructing  systems  of  science 
and  of  learning. 

Yet  farther, — That  the  countries  which  are  now 
inhabited,  and  which  were  laid  dry  by  this  last  re- 
volution, had  been  formerly  inhabited  at  a  more 
remote  era,  if  not  by  man,  at  least  by  land  animals ; 
that,  consequently,  at  least  one  previous  revolution 
had  submerged  them  under  the  waters ;  and  that, 
judging  from  the  different  orders  of  animals  of 
which  we  discover  the  remains  in  a  fossil  state, 


THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH.  167 

they  had  probably  experienced  two  or  three  irrup- 
tions of  the  sea. 

These  alternate  revolutions  form,  in  my  opinion, 
the  problem  in  geology  that  is  most  important  to 
be  solved,  or  rather  to  be  accurately  defined  and 
circumscribed ;  for,  in  order  to  solve  it  satisfacto- 
rily and  entirely,  it  were  requisite  that  we  should 
discover  the  cause  of  these  events, — an  enterprise 
involving  difficulties  of  a  very  different  nature. 

We  are  able  to  discover  with  sufficient  preci- 
sion all  that  takes  place  on  the  surface  of  our 
world  in  its  present  state,  and  we  have  sufficiently 
ascertained  the  uniform  progress  and  regular  suc- 
cessions of  the  primitive  formations ;  but  the  study 
of  the  secondary  formations  is  as  yet  scarcely 
commenced.  The  wonderful  series  of  unknown 
marine  moluscae  and  zoophites,  followed  by  fossil 
remains  of  serpents  and  of  fresh-water  fish,  equally 
unknown,  which  are  again  succeeded  by  other 
moluscse  and  zoophites  more  nearly  allied  to  those 
which  exist  at  present:  All  these  land  animals, 
these  moluscae,  and  other  unknown  animals  of  fresh 
water,  which  next  occupy  the  formations,  and 
which  are  finally  succeeded  by  other  molusca?  and 
other  animals  resembling  those  of  our  present  seas  ; 
the  relations  between  these  various  animals  and 
the  plants  whose  remains  are  mixed  among  them, 
and  the  relations  of  both  with  the  mineral  strata 


168  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

in  which  they  are  imbedded ;  the  little  resemblance 
between  these  extraneous  fossils  of  animals  and 
plants,  as  contained  in  the  different  basins  of  former 
waters : — All  these  form  a  series  of  phenomena 
which  imperiously  demands  the  attention  of  phi- 
losophers. 

This  study  is  rendered  interesting,  by  the  va- 
riety of  productions  of  partial  or  general  revolu- 
tions which  it  affords,  and  by  the  abundance  of  the 
different  species  which  alternately  offer  themselves 
to  view ;  it  neither  has  that  dull  monotony  which 
attaches  to  the  study  of  the  primitive  formations, 
nor  does  it  force  us,  like  the  latter,  almost  necessa- 
rily into  hypotheses.  The  facts  with  which  it  is 
conversant  are  so  prominent,  so  curious,  and  so 
obvious,  that  they  may  suffice  to  occupy  the  most 
ardent  imagination;  and  the  conclusions  which 
they  afford  from  time  to  time,  even  to  the  most 
cautious  observer,  have  nothing  vague  or  arbitrary 
in  their  nature.  Finally,  by  the  careful  investiga- 
tion of  these  events,  which  approach,  as  it  were, 
to  the  history  of  our  own  race,  we  may  hope  to  be 
able  to  discover  some  traces  of  more  ancient  events 
and  their  causes ;  if,  after  so  many  abortive  at- 
tempts already  made  on  the  same  subject,  we  may 
yet  flatter  ourselves  with  that  hope. 

These  ideas  have  haunted,  and  I  may  even  say, 
have  tormented  me,  during  all  my  researches  into 
the  fossil  remains  of  bones,  of  which  I  now  offer  the 


THEORY  OF  THE  EA&TH.  169 

results  to  the  public ;  and  though  these  only  con- 
tain a  very  small  portion  of  the  phenomena  con- 
nected with  the  immediately  preceding  period  of 
the  history  of  the  earth,  they  yet  connect  them- 
selves most  intimately  with  the  rest.  It  was  hard- 
ly possible  to  avoid  endeavouring  to  examine  these 
phenomena  in  the  country  immediately  round 
Paris ;  and  my  excellent  friend  M.  Brongniart,  led 
by  other  studies  to  have  similar  views,  associated 
himself  with  me  in  the  investigation,  by  which  we 
laid  the  foundation  of  our  Essay  on  the  Mineral 
Geography  of  Paris.  That  work,  however,  al- 
though it  bears  my  name,  has  become  almost  en- 
tirely the  work  of  my  friend,  in  consequence  of 
the  infinite  care  he  has  bestowed,  ever  since  the 
first  conception  of  our  plan,  and  during  the  exe- 
cution of  our  several  surveys  and  researches,  in 
the  thorough  investigation  of  all  the  objects  of  our 
research,  and  in  the  composition  of  the  Essay  itself. 

The  Essay  on  the  Mineral  Geography  of  the 
Environs  of  Paris,  affords  the  most  complete  and 
satisfactory  evidences  of  the  principal  facts  and 
circumstances  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  esta- 
blish in  this  discourse.  It  contains  a  history  of 
the  most  recent  changes  which  have  taken  place 
in  one  particular  basin,  and  leads  us  as  far  as  the 
chalk  formation,  which  is  infinitely  more  extended 
over  the  globe  than  the  formations  composed  of 
those  materials  which  are  found  in  the  basin  of 
Paris.  The  chalk  formation,  which  was  before 

22 


170  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

conceived  to  be  of  very  modern  origin,  has  been 
shown  in  that  extensive  examination  to  have  ori- 
ginated at  a  period  considerably  far  back  in  the 
age  before  the  last;  or,  in  other  words,  to  have 
owed  its  origin  to  causes  connected  with  the  revo- 
lution and  catastrophe  before  the  last  general 
irruption  of  the  waters  over  our  present  habitable 
world. 

It  would  now  be  of  great  importance  to  examine 
the  other  basins  containing  chalk  formations,  and 
in  general  to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  strata 
which  rest  upon  that  formation,  that  these  may  be 
compared  with  those  we  found  in  the  environs  of 
Paris.  Perhaps  the  chalk  itself  may  be  found  to 
contain  some  successive  depositions  of  organic  re- 
mains. It  is  surrounded  and  supported  by  the 
compact  limestone,  which  occupies  a  great  pro- 
portion of  France  and  Germany,  and  the  extra- 
neous fossils  of  which  are  extremely  different  from 
all  those  of  our  basin.  But,  in  following  the  com- 
pact limestone,  from  the  chalk  to  the  limestone 
of  the  central  ridges  of  Jura,  which  are  almost 
devoid  of  shells,  or  to  the  aggregated  rocks  of  the 
acclivities  oftheHartz,  the  Vosges,  and  the  Black 
Forest,  we  shall  probably  find  abundance  of  varia- 
tions: And  the  gryphites,  the  cornua  ammonis, 
and  the  entrochi,  with  which  it  abounds,  may  per- 
haps be  found  distributed  by  genera,  or  at  least 
by  species. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  171 

This  compact  limestone  formation  is  not  every- 
where covered  over  by  chalk.  Without  that  inter- 
vening, it  surrounds  basins  in  several  places,  or 
supports  elevated  flats  or  table  lands  not  less  wor- 
thy of  examination  than  those  which  are  limited  by 
chalk.  We  should  derive  great  information,  for  in- 
stance, from  a  history  of  the  gypsum  quarries  of 
Aix,  in  which,  as  well  as  in  those  of  Paris,  reptiles 
and  fresh-water  fishes  are  found ;  and  probably 
land-animals  will  be  also  discovered  by  careful  re- 
search ;  while  we  are  assured  that  nothing  similar 
occurs  in  the  entire  interval  between  these  two 
places,  which  are  almost  two  hundred  leagues  dis- 
tant from  each  other. 

The  long  ranges  of  sand-hills  which  skirt  both 
slopes  of  the  Appenines  through  almost  the  entire 
length  of  Italy,  contain  everywhere  perfectly  well- 
preserved  shells,  which  are  often  found  retaining 
their  colours,  and  even  their  natural  pearl-like  po- 
lish, and  several  of  which  resemble  those  still 
found  in  our  seas.  It  would  be  of  great  impor- 
tance to  be  well  acquainted  with  these,  and  to 
have  all  their  successive  strata  accurately  examin- 
ed, determining  the  extraneous  fossils  found  in 
each,  and  comparing  them  with  those  that  are  con- 
tained in  other  recent  strata ;  such,  for  example,  as 
those  in  the  environs  of  Paris. 

In  the  course  of  this  investigation,  it  would  be 
proper  to  connect  the  series,  on  the  one  hand,  with 


172  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  most  solid  and  most  ancient  formations,  and  on 
the  other,  with  the  recent  alluvial  depositions  made 
by  the  Po,  the  Arno,  and  their  tributary  streams ; 
as  also,  to  determine  their  relations  with  the  innu- 
merable masses  of  volcanic  productions  which  are 
interposed  between  them ;  and,  finally,  to  ascertain 
the  mutual  situations  of  the  various  sorts  of  shells, 
and  of  the  fossil  bones  of  elephants,  rhinoceroses, 
hippopotami,  whales,  cachalots,  and  dolphins,  in 
which  several  of  these  hills  abound.  I  have  only 
a  very  superficial  knowledge  of  these  lower  hills 
of  the  Appenine  chain,  acquired  in  the  course  of  a 
journey  devoted  to  other  objects;  but  I  am  of 
opinion  that  they  contain  the  true  secret  of  the  last 
operations  of  the  sea. 

There  are  many  other  strata,  even  celebrated 
for  their  extraneous  fossils,  which  have  not  been 
hitherto  so  accurately  examined  as  to  enable  them 
to  be  connected  with  the  general  series,  and  whose 
relative  antiquity,  therefore,  has  not  been  ascer- 
tained. The  copper  slate  of  Thuringia*  is  said 
to  be  filled  with  the  remains  of  fresh-water  fish, 
and  to  be  older  than  most  of  the  secondary  or 
floetz  formations.  We  are  also  as  yet  uninformed 
of  the  real  position  of  the  stinkstone  slate  of  Oen- 
irigen,  which  is  also  said  to  be  full  of  the  remains 
of  fresh-water  fish ;  of  that  of  Verona,  evidently 
abounding  in  the  remains  of  sea-fish,  but  which 

*  Bituminous  marl  slate. — Jameson's  Mineralog3r,  vol.  ii.  p.  1 97. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  173 

have  been  very  improperly  named  by  the  natural- 
ists who  have  described  them ;  of  the  black  slate 
of  Glacis ;  of  the  white  slate  of  Aichstedt,  also 
filled  with  the  remains  of  fishes,  of  crabs,  and  of 
other  marine  animals  different  from  shells.  All  these 
desiderata  have  as  yet  received  no  satisfactory  ex- 
planation in  books  of  geology ;  neither  has  it  been 
as  yet  explained,  why  shells  should  be  found  almost 
everywhere,  while  fish  are  confined  only  to  a  few 
places. 

It  appears  to  me,  that  a  consecutive  history  of 
such  singular  deposits  would  be  infinitely  more  va- 
luable than  so  many  contradictory  conjectures  re- 
specting the  first  origin  of  the  world  and  other 
planets,  and  respecting  phenomena  which  have 
confessedly  no  resemblance  whatever  to  those  of 
the  present  physical  state  of  the  world ;  such  con- 
jectures finding,  in  these  hypothetical  facts,  neither 
materials  to  build  upon,  nor  any  means  of  verifica- 
tion whatever.  Several  of  our  geologists  resemble 
those  historians  who  take  no  interest  in  the  history 
of  France,  except  as  to  what  passed  before  the  time 
of  Julius  Caesar.  Their  imaginations,  of  course, 
must  supply  the  place  of  authentic  documents; 
and  accordingly  each  composes  his  romance  ac- 
cording to  his  own  fancy.  What  would  become  of 
these  historians,  if  they  had  not  been  assisted  in 
their  combinations  by  the  knowledge  of  posterior 
facts  ?  But  our  geologists  neglect  exactly  those 
posterior  geological  facts,  which  might,  at  least  in 


174  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

some  measure,  dispel  the  darkness  of  the  preced- 
ing times. 

It  would  certainly  be  exceedingly  satisfactory  to 
have  the  fossil  organic  productions  arranged  in 
chronological  order,  in  the  same  manner  as  we  now 
have  the  principal  mineral  substances.  By  this 
the  science  of  organization  itself  would  be  improv- 
ed ;  the  developements  of  animal  life ;  the  succes- 
sion of  its  forms;  the  precise  determinations  of 
those  which  have  been  first  called  into  existence; 
the  simultaneous  production  of  certain  species, 
and  their  gradual  extinction; — all  these  would 
perhaps  instruct  us  fully  as  much  in  the  essence  of 
organization,  as  all  the  experiments  that  we  shall 
ever  be  able  to  make  upon  living  animals :  And 
man,  to  whom  only  a  short  space  of  time  is  allotted 
upon  the  earth,  would  have  the  glory  of  restoring 
the  history  of  thousands  of  ages  which  preceded 
the  existence  of  the  race,  and  of  thousands  of 
animals  that  never  were  contemporaneous  with  his 
species. 


END  OF  THE  ESSAY. 


SUPPLEMENT: 


Being  an  Extract  from  the  Researches  of  M.  de  Prony, 
on  the  Hydraulic  System  of  Italy :  Containing  an 
Account  of  the  Displacement  of  that  Part  of  the 
Coast  of  the  Adriatic  which  is  occupied  by  the  Mouths 
of  the  Po. 


JL  HAT  portion  of  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic  which 
lies  between  the  lake,  or  rather  lagune,  of  Comma- 
chio  and  the  lagunes  of  Venice,  has  undergone  con- 
siderable alterations  since  ancient  times,  as  is  at- 
tested by  authors  worthy  of  entire  credit,  and  as  is 
still  evidenced  by  the  actual  state  of  the  soil  in  the 
districts  near  the  coast ;  but  it  is  impossible  now 
to  give  any  exact  detail  of  the  successive  progress 
of  these  changes,  and  more  especially  of  their 
precise  measures,  during  the  ages  which  preceded 
the  twelfth  century  of  our  era. 

We  are,  however,  certain,  that  the  city  of  Ha- 
now  called  Mria,  was  formerly  situated  on 


176  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

the  edge  of  the  coast;  and  by  this  we  attain  a 
known  fixed  point  upon  the  primitive  shore,  whence 
the  nearest  part  of  the  present  coast,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Adige,  is  at  the  distance  of  25,000  metres  ;* 
and  it  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  that  the  extreme 
point  of  the  alluvial  promontory,  formed  by  the 
Po,  is  farther  advanced  into  the  sea  than  the  mouth 
of  the  Adige  by  nearly  10,000  metres.f 

The  inhabitants  of  Adria  have  formed  exagge- 
rated pretensions,  in  many  respects,  as  to  the  high 
antiquity  of  their  city,  though  it  is  undeniably  one 
of  the  most  ancient  in  Italy,  as  it  gave  name  to  the 
sea  which  once  washed  its  walls.  By  some  re- 
searches made  in  its  interior  and  its  environs,  a 
stratum  of  earth  has  been  found  mixed  with  frag- 
ments of  Etruscan  pottery,  and  with  nothing  what- 
ever of  Roman  manufacture.  Etruscan  and  Roman 
pottery  are  found  mixed  together  in  a  superior 
bed,  on  the  top  of  which  the  vestiges  of  a  theatre 
have  been  discovered.  Both  of  these  beds  are  far 
below  the  level  of  the  present  soil.  I  have  seen  at 
Adria  very  curious  collections,  in  which  these  re- 


*  Equal  to  27,340  yards  and  10  inches  English  measure,  or  15  1-& 
miles  and  60  yards. 

In  these  reductions  of  the  revolutionary  French  metres  to  English 
measure,  the  metre  is  assumed  as  39.37  English  inches. — Transl. 

f  Or  10,936  yards  and  4  inches,  equal  to  6  miles  and  nearly  a  quar- 
ter, English  measure. 

Hence  the  entire  advance  of  the  alluvial  promontory  of  the  Po  ap- 
pears to  have  extended  to  21  miles  5  furlongs  and  £16  yards.— Transh 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  177 

mains  of  antiquity  are*  separately  classed;  and 
having  some  years  ago  observed  to  the  viceroy, 
that  it  would  be  of  great  importance,  both  to  his- 
tory and  geology,  to  make  a  thorough  search  into 
these  buried  remains  at  Adria,  carefully  noticing 
the  levels  in  comparison  with  the  sea,  both  of  the 
primitive  soil,  and  of  the  successive  alluvial  beds, 
his  highness  entered  warmly  into  my  ideas ;  but 
I  know  not  whether  these  propositions  have  been 
since  carried  into  effect. 

Following  the  coast,  after  leaving  Hatria,  which 
was  situated  at  the  bottom  of  a  small  bay  or  gulf, 
we  find  to  the  south  a  branch  of  the  Jlthesis  or 
Adige,  and    of  the   Fossa    Philistina^  of  which  the 
remaining  trace  corresponds  to  what  might  have 
been  the  Mincio  and  Tartaro  united,   if  the  Po 
had  still  run  to  the  south   of  Ferrara.     We  next 
find  the  Delta  Venetum,  which  seems  to  have   oc- 
cupied the   place  where   the  lake  or   lagune  of 
Commachio    is   now    situated.       This   delta  was. 
traversed  by  seven  branches  of  the  Eridanus  or 
Po,  formerly  called  also  the   Vadis  Padus  or  Po- 
dincus :  winch  river,  at  the  diramification  of  these 
seven  branches,  and  upon  its  left  or  northern  bank, 
had  a  city  named   Trigoboli,  whose  site  could  not 
be  far  from  where  Ferrara  now  stands.     Seven 
lakes,  enclosed  within  this  delta,  were  called  Septem 
Maria,   and   Hatria   was  sometimes  denominated 
Urbs  Septum  Marium,  or  the  city  of  the  seven  seas* 
or  lakes, 

23 


178          THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH* 

Following  the  coast  from  Ilatria  to  the  north- 
wards, we  come  to  the  principal  mouth  of  the 
^thesis  or  Adige,  formerly  named  Fossa  Philistina. 
and  afterwards  Estuarium  Altini,  an  interior  sea,  se- 
parated, by  a  range  of  small  islands,  from  the 
Adriatic  gulf,  in  the  middle  of  which  was  a  cluster 
of  other  small  isles,  called  Rialtum,  and  upon  this 
archipelago  the  city  of  Venice  is  now  seated.  The 
Estuarium  Mini  is  what  is  now  called  the  lagune 
of  Venice,  and  no  longer  communicates  with  the 
sea,  except  by  five  passages,  the  small  islands  of 
the  archipelago  having  been  united  into  a  continu- 
ous dike. 

To  the  east  of  the  lagunes,  and  north  from  the 
city  of  Este,  we  find  the  Euganian  mounts,  or  hills, 
forming,  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  alluvial  plain,  a  re- 
markable isolated  group  of  rounded  hillocks,  near 
which  spot  the  fable  of  the  ancients  supposes  the 
fall  of  Phaeton  to  have  taken  place.  Some  writers 
have  supposed  that  this  fable  may  have  originated 
from  the  fall  of  some  vast  masses  of  inflamed 
matters  near  the  mouths  of  the  Eridanus,  that  had 
been  thrown  up  by  a  volcanic  explosion ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  abundance  of  volcanic  products  are 
found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Padua  and  Verona. 

The  most  ancient  notices  that  I  have  been  able 
to  procure  respecting  the  situation  of  the  shores  of 
the  Adriatic  at  the  mouths  of  the  Po,  only  begin 
to  be  precise  in  the  twelfth  century.  At  that  epoch 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  179 

the  whole  waters  of  this  river  flowed  to  the  south 
of  Ferrara,  in  the  Po  de  Volano  and  the  Po  di  Pri~ 
maro,  branches  which  enclosed  the  space  occupied 
by  the  lagune  of  Commachio.  The  two  branches 
which  were  next  formed  by  an  irruption  of  the  wa^ 
ters  of  the  Po  to  the  north  of  Ferrara,  were  named 
the  river  of  Corbolo,  Langola,  or  Maszorno,  and  the 
river  Toi.  The  former,  and  more  northern  of 
these,  received  the  Tartaro,  or  canal  bianco,  near  the 
sea,  and  the  latter  was  joined  at  Ariano  by  another 
branch  derived  from  the  Po,  called  the  Goro  river. 
The  sea-coast  was  evidently  directed  from  south  to 
north,  at  the  distance  of  ten  or  eleven  thousand 
metres*  from  the  meridian  of  Adria ;  and  Loreo,  to 
the  north  of  Mesola,  was  only  about  2000  metres^ 
from  the  coast. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  the 
flood  waters  of  the  Po  were  retained  on  their  left 
or  northern  side  by  dikes  near  the  small  city  of  Ft- 
carolo,  which  is  about  19,000  metres^  to  the  north- 
west of  Ferrara,  spreading  themselves  southwards 
over  the  northern  part  of  the  territory  of  Ferrara 
and  the  Polesine  of  Rovigo,  and  flowed  through  the 
two  formerly-mentioned  canals  of  Mazzorno  and 
Toi.  It  seems  perfectly  ascertained,  that  this 
change  in  the  direction  of  the  waters  of  the  Po 


*  Equal  to  10,936  or  12,030  yards  English  measure. — Transl. 
f  Or  2,186  yards  2  feet  English.— Transl. 
I  Or  20,778  yards  1  foot  10  inches.— Transl. 


180  THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH. 

had  been  produced  by  the  effects  of  human  la- 
bours ;  and  the  historians  who  have  recorded  this 
remarkable  fact  only  differ  from  each  other  in  some 
of  the  more  minute  details.  The  tendency  of  the 
river  to  flow  in  the  new  channels,  which  had  been 
opened  for  the  more  ready  discharge  of  its  waters 
when  in  flood,  continually  increased;  owing  to 
which  the  two  ancient  chief  branches,  the  Voaho 
and  Prtmaro,  rapidly  decreased,  and  were  reduced 
in  less  than  a  century  to  their  present  comparative- 
ly insignificant  size;  while  the  main  direction  of 
the  river  was  established  between  the  mouth  of 
the  Adige  to  the  north,  and  what  is  now  called 
Porto  di  Goro  on  the  south.  The  two  before-men- 
tioned canals  of  Mazzorno  and  7W,  becoming  in- 
sufficient for  the  discharge,  others  were  dug ;  and 
the  principal  mouth,  called  Bocco  Tramontane  or 
the  northern  mouth,  having  approached  the  mouth 
of  the  Adige,  the  Venetians  became  alarmed  in 
1 604 ;  when  they  excavated  a  new  canal  of  dis- 
charge, named  Taglio  de  Porto  Viro,  or  Po  delle  For- 
naci,  by  which  means  the  Bocco  Maestro,  was  divert- 
ed from  the  Adige  towards  the  south. 

During  four  centuries,  from  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  to  that  of  the  sixteenth,  the  alluvial  forma- 
\  ions  of  the  Po  gained  considerably  upon  the  sea. 
The  northern  mouth,  which  had  usurped  the  situ- 
ation of  the  Mazzarno  canal,  becoming  the  Ramo  di 
Tramontane^  had  advanced  in  1600  to  the  distance 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  181 

of  20,000  metres*  from  the  meridian  of  Adria ;  and 
the  southern  mouth,  which  had  taken  possession 
of  the  canal  of  Toi,  was  then  17,000  metres^  ad- 
vanced beyond  the  same  point.  Thus  the  shore 
had  become  extended  nine  or  ten  thousand  metres^. 
to  the  north,  and  six  or  seven  thousand  to  the 
south.§  Between  these  two  mouths  there  was 
formerly  a  bay,  or  a  part  of  the  coast  less  ad- 
vanced than  the  rest,  called  Sacca  di  Goro.  During 
the  same  period  of  four  hundred  years  previous  to 
the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
great  and  extensive  embankments  of  the  Po  were 
constructed ;  and  also,  during  the  same  period,  the 
southern  slopes  of  the  Alps  began  to  be  cleared 
and  cultivated. 

The  great  canal,  denominated  Taglio  di  Porto 
Viro,  or  Podelle  Fornaci,  ascertains  the  advance  of 
the  alluvial  depositions  in  the  vast  promontory 
now  formed  by  the  mouths  or  delta  of  the  Pb.  In 
proportion  as  their  entrances  into  the  sea  extend 
from  the  original  land,  the  yearly  quantity  of  allu- 
vial depositions  increases  in  an  alarming  degree, 
owning  to  the  diminished  slope  of  the  streams, 
which  was  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  prolon- 
gation of  their  bed,  to  the  confinement  of  the 
waters  between  dikes,  and  to  the  facility  with 

•*  Or  21,372  yards.— Transl. 

f  Or  18,591  yards— Transl. 

}  Equal  to  9,842  or  10,936  yards.— Transl. 

^  Equal  to  6,564  or  7,655  yards— Transl 


182  THEORY  OP  THE  EARTH. 

which  the  increased  cultivation  of  the  ground  en- 
ahled  the  mountain  torrents  which  flowed  into 
them  to  carry  away  the  soil.  Owing  to  these 
causes,  the  bay  called  Sacca  di  Goro  was  very  soon 
filled  up,  and  the  two  promontories  which  had 
been  formed  by  the  two  former  principal  mouths 
of  Mazzorno  and  Toi,  were  united  into  one  vast 
projecting  cape,  the  most  advanced  point  of  which 
is  now  32,000  or  33,000  metres*  beyond  the  meri- 
dian of  Adria :  so  that  in  the  course  of  two  hun- 
dred years,  the  mouths  or  delta  of  the  Po  have 
gained  about  1 4,000  metres^  upon  the  sea. 

From  these  facts,  of  which  I  have  given  a  brief 
enumeration,  the  following  results  are  clearly 
established. 

First) — That  at  some  ancient  period,  the  precise 
date  of  which  cannot  be  now  ascertained,  the 
waves  of  the  Adriatic  washed  the  walls  of  Adria. 

Secondly, — That  in  the  twelfth  century,  before  a 
passage  had  been  opened  for  the  waters  of  the  Po 
at  FicarolO)  on  its  left  or  northern  bank,  the  shore 
had  been  already  removed  to  the  distance  of  nine 
or  ten  thousand  metres^  from  Adria. 


*  From  19  miles  7  furlongs  and  15  yards,  to  20  miles  4  furlongs  and 
9  yards,  English  measure. — Transl. 
\  Or  15,366  yards.— Transl. 
f  Equal  to  9,842  or  10,936  yards.— Transl. 


THEORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  183 

Thirdly, — The  extremities  of  the  promontories 
formed  by  the  two  principal  branches  of  the  Po, 
before  the  excavation  of  the  Taglio  di  Porto  Viro, 
had  extended  by  the  year  1600,  or  in  four  hundred 
years,  to  a  medium  distance  of  18,500  metres*  be- 
yond Adria;  giving,  from  the  year  1200,  an  ave- 
rage yearly  increase  of  the  alluvial  land  of  25 
metres.^ 

Fourthly, — That  the  extreme  point  of  the  present 
single  promontory,  formed  by  the  alluvions  of  the 
existing  branches,  is  advanced  to  between  thirty- 
two  and  thirty-three  thousand  metres^  beyond 
Adria;  whence  the  average  yearly  progress  is 
about  seventy  metres^  during  the  last  two  hundred 
years,  being  greatly  more  rapid  in  proportion  than 
in  former  times. 


*  Or  20,231  yards.— Transl. 

f  Exactly  27  yards  1  foot  and  l-4th  of  an  inch  English. — Transl. 

\.  Already  stated  at  from  19  3-4  to  20  1-2  miles;  or  more  precise- 
ly, from  34,995  yards  1  foot  8  inches,  to  36,089  yards  10  inches  Eng- 
lish measure. — TransL 

^  Equal  to  76  yards  1  foot  7  inches  and  9-loth»- 


APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING 


MINERALOGICAL  NOTES, 


AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF 


CUVIER'S  GEOLOGICAL  DISCOVERIES, 


24 


NOTES. 

NOTE  A.     §  4.  p.  30. 
On  the  Subsidence  of  Strata. 

CUVIER  adopts  the  opinion  of  De  Luc,  that  all  the 
older  strata  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  composed, 
were  originally  in  an  horizontal  situation,  and  have 
been  raised  into  their  present  highly-inclined  position, 
by  subsidences  that  have  taken  place  over  the  whole 
surface  of  the  earth. 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  that  subsidences,  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  have  taken  place ;  yet  we  are  not  of  opi- 
nion, that  these  have  been  so  general  as  maintained  by 
these  geologists.  We  are  rather  inclined  to  believe, 
that  the  present  inclined  position  of  strata  is  in  general 
their  original  one  ; — an  opinion  which  is  countenanced 
by  the  known  mode  of  connexion  of  strata,  the  pheno- 
mena of  veins,  particularly  cotemporaneous  veins,  the 
crystalline  nature  of  every  species  of  older  rock,  and 
the  great  regularity  in  the  direction  of  strata  throughout 
the  globe. 

The  transition  and  flcetz-rocks  also  are  much  more  of 
a  chemical  or  crystalline  nature  than  has  been  generally 


188  ON  PRIMITIVE  ROCKS. 

imagined*  Even  sandstone,  one  of  the  most  abundant 
of  the  flcetz-rocks,  occasionally  occurs  in  masses,  many 
yards  in  extent,  which  individually  have  a  tabular  or 
stratified  structure  :  but  when  viewed  on  the  great  scale, 
appear  to  be  great  massive  distinct  concretions.  These 
massive  concretions,  with  their  subordinate  tabular 
structures,  if  not  carefully  investigated,  are  apt  to  be- 
wilder the  mineralogist,  and  to  force  him  to  have  re- 
course to  a  general  system  of  subsidence  or  elevation  of 
the  strata,  in  order  to  explain  the  phenomena  they  ex- 
hibit. 

NOTE  B.     §  7.  p.  39  &  41. 

On  Primitive  Rocks. 

As  the  enumeration  of  primitive  mountain  rocks  in  the 
text  is  incomplete,  we  have  judged  it  useful  to  give  in 
this  note  a  more  full  account  of  them.  Primitive  moun- 
tains, in  general,  form  the  highest  and  most  rugged  por- 
tions of  the  earth's  surface,  and  extend  in  the  form  of 
chains  of  mountain-groups  throughout  the  whole  earth. 
These  mountain-groups  are  generally  highest  in  the 
middle,  and  lowest  towards  the  sides  and  extremities ; 
and  the  mountain-rocks  of  which  they  are  composed, 
are  so  arranged,  that  in  general  the  middle  and  highest 
portions  of  the  group  are  composed  of  older  rocks 
than  the  lateral  and  lower  portions.  As  far  as  we 
know  at  present,  granite  is  the  oldest  and  first  formed 
of  all  the  primitive  rocks.  This  rock  is  composed 
of  felspar,  quartz,  and  mica,  and  varies  in  its  struc- 
ture from  coarse  to  very  small  granular.  It  sometimes 
alternates  with  beds  of  quartz  and  felspar,  and  is  often 
traversed  by  cotemporaneous  veins  of  granite,  of  quartz, 
and  of  felspar.  The  newer  or  upper  portions  of  the 
formation  contain  cotemporaneous  masses  of  porphyry, 
syenite,  hornblende  rock,  limestone,  &c.  It  frequently 


CRYSTALLIZED  MARBLES.  189 

forms  the  highest,  and  at  the  same  time  the  central  part 
of  mountain-groups.  The  next  rock,  in  point  of  anti- 
quity, or  that  which  rests  immediately  upon  the  granite^ 
is  gneiss,  which  has  a  distinct  slaty  structure,  is  stratified, 
and,  like  granite,  is  composed  of  felspar,  quartz,  and 
mica.  It  alternates  with  the  newer  portions  of  the  gra- 
nite, and  sometimes  cotemporaneous  veins  of  the  one 
rock  shoot  into  masses  of  the  other.  It  contains  subor- 
dinate formations  of  granite,  porphyry,  syenite,  trap, 
quartz,  limestone,  and  conglomerated  gneiss.  The  next 
rock  in  the  series  is  mica-slate,  which  rests  upon  the 
gneiss.  It  is  composed  of  quartz  and  mica,  and  has  a 
distinct  sfaty  structure,  and  is  stratified.  It  alternates 
with  gneiss,  and  contains  various  subordinate  formations, 
as  granite,  porphyry,  syenite,  trap,  quartz,  serpentine, 
limestone,  and  conglomerated  mica-slate.  It  is  often 
traversed  by  cotemporaneous  veins,  from  the  smallest 
discernible  magnitude  to  many  yards  in  width.  The 
mica-slate  is  succeeded  by  clay-slate,  which  rests  upon 
it,  and  sometimes  alternates  with  it.  It  differs  from 
mica-slate,  gneiss,  and  granite,  in  its  composition,  being 
in  general  a  simple  rock ;  and  in  some  instances  princi- 
pally composed  of  mica,  in  others  to  all  appearance  of 
felspar.  Besides  granite,  porphyry,  trap,  syenite,  lime- 
stone, serpentine,  conglomerated  clay-slate,*  quartz,  it 
also  contains  the  following  formations;  flinty-slate, 
whet-slate,  talk-slate,  alum-slate,  and  drawing-slate.  The 
calcarious  rocks  mentioned  by  Cuvier.  as  resting  upon 
the  slate,  do  not  belong  to  this  class  ;  they  are  transi- 

, 

*  The  primitive  conglomerated  rocks,  mentioned  as  above,  as  occur- 
ring in  gneiss,  mica-slate,  and  clay-slate,  are  sometimes  named  grey- 
wacke, 


190  MOUNTAINS  OF  JURA. 

tion  limestone,  and  contain,  although  rarely,  testaceous 
petrifactions. 

NOTE  C.     §  7.  p.  42. 

Crystallized  Marbles  resting  on  shelly  Strata. 
M.  Cuvier  says,  "  the  crystallized  marbles  never  cover 
the  shelly  strata."  This  observation  is  not  perfectly 
correct ;  for  transition  limestone,  and  certain  magnesian 
floetz  limestones,  which  are  to  be  considered  as  crystal- 
lized marbles,  contain  testaceous  petrifactions,  and  alter- 
nate with  other  strata  that  contain  petrified  shells. 

Crystallized  marble,  or  granular  foliated  limestone, 
occur,  along  with  floetz  trap  rocks,  in  the  coal  formation, 
in  different  parts  of  Scotland,  as  upon  the  Lomonds,  in 
Fifeshire,  &c. 

NOTE  D.     §  7.  p.  43. 

Rolled  Masses  upon  the  Mountains  of  Jura. 
Numerous  large  blocks,  or  masses  of  mountain  rocks, 
are  met  with  in  almost  every  country  of  Europe,  and 
frequently  very  far  removed  from  their  original  situa- 
tions. Switzerland  and  the  surrounding  countries  pre- 
sent numerous  and  very  interesting  appearances  of  this 
kind.  On  the  mountains  of  Jura,  immediately  in  the  line 
of  direction  of  the  Vallais,  and  nearly  to  the  height  of 
6000  feet,  enormous  blocks  of  granite  are  found  resting 
upon  the  limestone  rocks  of  that  range  of  mountains. 
These  blocks  are  of  that  species  of  granite  which  forms 
the  mountain  of  Ornex,  belonging  to  the  group  of  Mont 
Blanc ;  hence  it  is  inferred  that  they  must  have  been 
transported  by  the  force  of  water  from  that  region  to 
their  present  situation. 


MOUNTAINS    OF    JURA.  191 

Masses  of  conglomerate  also  occur  upon  the  Jura 
mountains,  of  the  same  varieties  as  those  which  occur  in 
fixed  rocks  at  Valorsine,  and  other  places  in  the  vicinity 
of  Mont  Blanc.  Blocks  of  greywacke  and  of  black 
limestone  are  amongst  the  rolled  blocks,  and  these  also 
can  be  traced  as  fixed  rocks  in  the  Vallais. 

Many  phenomena  of  the  same  description  are  to  be 
observed  in  Scotland.  It  would  be  an  interesting  and 
valuable  addition  to  the  geology  of  Great  Britain,  to 
have  a  map  constructed  representing  the  distribution  of 
these  blocks  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  island. 

NOTE  E.     §  9.  p.  46. 

Salisbury  Craigs. 

The  front  of  Salisbury  craigs,  near  Edinburgh,  affords 
a  fine  example  of  the  natural  chronometer,  described  in 
the  text.  The  acclivity  is  covered  with  loose  masses 
that  have  fallen  from  the  hill  itself;  and  the  quantity  of 
debris  is  in  proportion  to  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since 
the  waters  of  the  ocean  formerly  covered  the  neighbour- 
ing country.  If  a  vast  period  of  time  had  elapsed  since 
the  surface  of  the  earth  had  assumed  its  present  aspect,  it 
is  evident,  that  long  ere  now  the  whole  of  this  hill  would 
have  been  enveloped  in  its  own  debris.  We  have  here, 
then,  a  proof  of  the  comparatively  short  period  since  the 
waters  left  the  surface  of  the  globe, — a  period  not  ex- 
ceeding a  few  thousand  years. 

* 

NOTE  F.     §  10.  p.  46. 

On  the  diluvial  Land  of  the  Danish  Islands  in  the  Baltic, 
and  on  the  Coast  of  Sleswick. 

In  this  section,  Cuvier  gives  a  clear  and  distinct  ac- 
count of  several  kinds  of  alluvial  formations.  M.  De 
Luc,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Geological  Travels,  de- 


192  ON   ALLUVIAL    FORMATIONS. 

scribes  the  alluvial  formations  that  cover  and  bound 
many  of  the  islands  in  the  Baltic  and  upon  the  coast  of 
Denmark,  and  gives  so  interesting  an  account  of  the 
modes  followed  by  the  inhabitants  in  preserving  these 
alluvial  deposites,  that  we  feel  pleasure  in  communi- 
cating it  to  our  readers. 

During  my  stay  at  Husum,  I  had  the  advantage  of  pas- 
sing my  evenings  very  agreeably  and  profitably  at  the 
house  of  M.  Hartz,  with  his  own  family,  and  two  Danish 
officers,  Major  Behmann,  commandant  at  Husum,  and 
Captain  Baron  de  Barackow.  The  conversation  often 
turned  on  the  objects  of  my  excursions,  and  particularly 
on  the  natural  history  of  the  coasts  and  of  the  islands  ;  re- 
specting which  M.  Hartz  obligingly  undertook  to  give 
me  extracts  from  the  chronicles  of  the  country.  This 
led  us  to  speak  of  the  Danish  islands;  and  those  officers 
giving  me  such  descriptions  of  them  as  were  very  inte- 
resting to  my  object,  I  begged  their  permission  to  write 
down  in  their  presence  the  principal  circumstances 
which  they  communicated  to  me.  These  will  form  the 
first  addition  to  my  own  observations ;  I  shall  afterwards 
proceed  to  the  information  which  I  obtained  from  M. 
Hartz. 

The  two  principal  islands  of  the  Danish  Archipelago, 
those  of  Funen  and  Seeland  (or  Zeland),  as  well  as  some 
small  islands  in  the  Kattegate,  namely,  Lenoe,  Anholt, 
and  Samsoe,  are  hilly,  and  principally  composed  ofgeest;* 
and  in  these  are  found  gravel  and  blocks  of  granite,  and  of 


*  By  geest  is  understood  the  alluvial  matter  which  is  spread  over  the 
surface  both  of  the  hilly  and  low  country,  and  appears  to  have  been 
formed  the  last  time  the  waters  of  the  ocean  stood  over  the  surface  of 
the  earth. — J. 


GEEST    LAND.  193 

other  stones  of  that  class,  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as 
in  the  country  which  I  have  lately  described,  and  it» 
islands  in  the  North  Sea.  On  the  borders  of  the  two  first 
of  these  Danish  islands,  there  are  also  blocks  in  the  sea; 
but  only  in  front  of  abrupt  coasts,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
islands  of  Poel  and  Rugen,  and  along  the  coasts  of  the  Bal- 
tic. The  lands  added  to  these  islands  of  geest  are  in  most 
part  composed  of  the  sand  of  the  sea,  the  land-waters  there 
being  very  inconsiderable ;  and  to  the  south  of  them 
have  been  formed  several  islands  of  the  same  nature,  the 
chief  of  which  are  Laland  and  Falster,  near  Seeland. 
These,  like  the  marsch  islands  in  the  North  Sea,  are  sand- 
banks accumulated  by  the  waves,  and,  when  covered 
with  grass,  continuing  to  be  farther  raised  by  the  sedi- 
ments deposited  between  its  blades.  In  the  Baltic, 
where  there  are  no  sensible  tides,  such  islands  may  be 
inhabited  without  dikes,  as  well  as  the  extensions  of  the 
coasts ;  because,  being  raised  to  the  highest  level  of  that 
sea,  while  their  declivity  under  water  is  very  small,  and 
being  also  more  firm  in  their  composition,  the  waves  die 
away  on  their  shores ;  and  if,  in  any  extraordinary  case, 
the  sea  rises  over  them,  it  leaves  on  them  fresh  deposits, 
which  increase  their  heights.  These  soils  are  all  per- 
fectly horizontal,  like  those  added  to  the  coasts  of  the  con- 
tinent. 

Some  of  these  islands  approach  entirely  or  in  part  to 
the  nature  of  that  of  Rugen.  This  island  of  Seeland,  on. 
that  side  which  is  called  Hedding,  has  a  promontory 
composed  of  strata  of  chalk  with  its  flints.  The  island  of 
Moen,  (or  Mona,)  on  the  south  of  the  latter,  has  a  simi- 
lar promontory  near  Maglebye  and  Mandemark ;  and  the 
island  of  Bornholm,  the  easternmost  of  those  belonging 
to  Denmark,  contains  strata  of  coal,  covered  by  others 
of  sandstone.  Phenomena  like  these,  evident  symptoms 


194  ON  ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS. 

of  the  most  violent  catastrophes  at  the  bottom  of  the  an- 
cient sea,  proceeding,  as  I  think  I  have  clearly  shown, 
from  the  subsidence  and  angular  motions  of  large  masses 
of  strata,  which  must  have  forced  out  the  interior  fluids 
with,  the  utmost  impetuosity,  it  is  not  surprising  that  so 
many  fragments  of  the  lowermost  strata  are  found  dis- 
persed over  this  great  theatre  of  ruins. 

I  now  proceed  to  the  details  which  I  received  from 
M.  Hartz ;  beginning  by  a  specific  designation  of  the 
islands  dependent  on  the  province  of  Sleswigh,  such  as 
they  are  at  present,  belonging  to  the  three  classes  already 
defined.  To  commence  from  the  north ;  Fanoe,  Rom, 
Sylt,  and  Amrom,  were  originally  islands  of  the  same  na- 
ture as  the  neighbouring  continent,  but  have  been  since 
extended  by  marsches.*  The  soil  of  these  islands,  with 
its  gravel  and  blocks  of  primordial  stones,  was  at  first 
barren,  as  the  geest  is  naturally  every  where  ;  but  is  be- 
come fertile  by  manure,  of  which  there  has  been  no  de- 
ficiency, since  those  grounds  have  been  surrounded  with 
marsch,  where  the  cattle  are  kept  in  stables  during  the 
winter.  In  the  island  of  Sylt,  there  are  spaces  consist- 
ing of  moor ;  but  its  head  of  land,  which  extends  on  the 
south  as  far  as  Mornum,  is  composed  entirely  ofmarsch, 
and  is  bordered  with  dunes  towards  the  open  sea,  be- 
cause, the  sediments  of  the  rivers  not  reaching  any  far- 
ther, the  sea-sand  impelled  against  it  by  the  waves  re- 
mains pure,  and  is  thus  raised  by  the  winds  in  hillocks 
on  the  shore.  The  shallow  bottom  of  the  sea,  between 
this  island  and  that  of  Fora,  is  of  geest :  at  low  water,  it 


*  By  marsch  is  understood  the  new  land  added  to  the  coasts  since 
the  last  retiring  of  the  water  of  the  globe  from  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  is  formed  by  the  sediments  of  rivers,  mixed  more  or  less  with 
sand  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea. — 3. 


MARSCH  LANDS. 


195 


may  be  passed  over  on  foot ;  and  there  are  found  on  it 
gravel  and  blocks  of  granite.  But  on  the  same  side  of 
Fora  there  is  a  great  extent  of  marsch,  beginning  from 
St.  Laurencius.  Among  the  islands  consisting  entirely 
of  marsch  and  surrounded  with  dikes,  the  most  considera- 
ble are  Pellworm  and  Nord  Strand ;  and  among  the  Hal- 
ligs,  or  those  inhabited  without  dikes,  the  chief  are  Olant, 
Nord-marsh,  Langne,  Groode,  and  Hooge. 

Such  are  the  islands  on  this  coast,  in  their  present 
state,  now  rendered  permanent  by  the  degree  of  perfec 
tion  at  which  the  art  of  dike-making  is  arrived.  But,  in 
former  times,  though  the  original  land  was  never  attack- 
ed by  the  sea,  which,  by  adding  to  it  new  lands,  soon 
formed  a  barrier  against  its  own  encroachments,  the  lat- 
ter, and  the  islands  composed  of  the  same  materials,  were 
subject  to  great  and  sudden  changes,  very  fatal  to  those 
who  are  engaged  to  settle  on  them  by  the  richness  of 
their  soil,  comparatively  with  the  continental.  The  inha- 
bitants, who  continued  to  multiply  on  them  during  seve- 
ral generations,  were  taught,  indeed,  by  experience,  that 
they  might  at  last  be  invaded  by  the  element  which  was 
incessantly  threatening  them ;  but  having  as  yet  no  know- 
ledge of  natural  causes,  they  blindly  considered  those 
that  endangered  them  as  supernatural,  and  for  a  long  time 
used  no  precautions  for  their  own  security.  They  were 
ignorant  of  the  dreadful  effects  of  a  certain  association  of 
circumstances,  rare  indeed,  but,  when  occurring,  abso- 
lutely destructive  of  these  marsches.  This  association 
consists  of  an  extraordinary  elevation  of  the  level  of  the 
North  Sea,  from  the  long  continuance  of  certain  winds 
in  the  Atlantic,  with  a  violent  storm  occurring  during  the 
tides  of  the  new  or  full  moon;  for  then  the  sea  rises 
above  the  level  of  all  the  marsches;  and  before  they  were 
secured  against  such  attacks,  the  waves  rolling  over  them, 


196  ON  ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS. 

and  tearing  away  the  grass  which  had  bound  their  sur- 
face, they  were  reduced  to  the  state  of  mere  banks  of 
sand  and  mud,  whence  they  had  been  drawn,  by  the  long 
course  of  ordinary  causes.  Such  were  the  dreadful  acci- 
dents to  which  the  first  settlers  on  these  lands  were  ex- 
posed ;  but  no  sooner  were  they  over,  than  ordinary 
causes  began  again  to  act ;  the  sand-banks  rose ;  their 
surface  was  covered  with  grass ;  the  coast  was  thus  ex- 
tended, and  new  islands  were  formed  ;  time  effaced  the 
impression  of  past  misfortunes ;  and  those  among  the  in- 
habitants of  these  dangerous  soils,  who  had  been  able  to 
save  themselves  on  the  coast,  ventured  to  return  to  settle 
on  them  again,  and  had  time  to  multiply,  before  the  re- 
currence of  the  same  catastrophes. 

This  has  been  the  general  course  of  events  on  all  the 
coasts  of  the  North  Sea,  and  particularly  on  those  of  the 
countries  of  Sleswigh  and  Holstein.  it  is  thus  that  the 
origin  and  progress  of  the  art  of  dikes  will  supply  us  with 
a  very  interesting  chronometer  in  the  history  of  the  conti- 
nent and  of  man,  particularly  exemplified  in  this  part  of 
the  globe.  A  Lutheran  clergyman,  settled  in  the  island 
of  Nord  Strand,  having  collected  all  the  particulars  of 
this  history  which  the  documents  of  the  country  could 
afford,  published  it  in  1668,  in  a  German  work,  entitled 
The  North  Frisian  Chronicle.  It  was  chiefly  from  this 
work,  and  from  the  Chronicle  ofDankwerth,  that  M.  Hartz 
extracted  the  information  which  he  gave  to  me,  accom- 
panied by  two  maps,  copied  for  me,  by  one  of  his  sons, 
from  those  of  Johannes  Mayerus,  a  mathematician ;  they 
bear  the  title  of  Frisia  Cimbrica  ;  one  of  them  respecting 
the  state  of  the  islands  and  of  the  coast,  in  1240,  as  it  may 
be  traced  in  the  chronicles,  and  the  other,  as  it  was  in 
1651. 


GREAT  RISE  OF  THE  OCEAN.  197 

According  to  these  documents,  the  first  inhabitants  of 
the  marsches  were  Frisii  or  Frisians,  designated  also  under 
the  names  of  Cimbri  and  Sikambri :  the  latter  name,  M. 
Hartz  conjectures,  might  come  from  the  ancient  German 
words  SecJcampfers,  i.  e.  Sea-warriors ;  the  Frisians  being 
very  warlike.  These  people  appear  to  have  had  the 
same  origin  with  those,  who,  at  a  rather  earlier  period, 
took  possession  of  the  marsches  of  Ost-Frise,  (East-Fries- 
land,)  and  of  that  Friesland  which  forms  one  of  the  United 
Provinces ;  but  this  common  origin  is  very  obscure. 
Even  at  the  present  day,  the  inhabitants  of  the  marsches, 
from  near  Husum  to  Tondern,  or  Tunder  to  the  North, 
though  themselves  unacquainted  with  it,  speak  a  language 
which  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  country  do  not  under- 
stand, and  which  is  supposed  to  be  Frisian.  It  is  the  same 
at  a  village  in  the  peninsula  of  Bremen,  by  which  I  have 
had  occasion  to  pass. 

The  Sicambri  or  North  Frisians,  are  traced  back  to  some 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  that  era,  they  were  attacked  by  Frotho,  King  of 
Denmark,  and  lost  a  battle,  under  their  king  Vicho,  near 
the  river  Hever.  Four  centuries  afterwards  they  joined 
the  troops  of  Ilengist  and  Horsa.  In  the  year  692,  their 
king  Radebot  resided  in  the  island  of  Heiligeland. 
Charles  Martel  subdued  them  in  732 ;  and  some  time 
afterwards,  they  joined  Charlemagne  against  Gottric, 
King  of  Denmark.  These  are  some  of  the  circumstances 
of  the  history  of  this  Frisian  colony,  recorded  in  the 
chronicles  of  which  I  have  spoken  ;  but  the  history  here 
interesting  to  us  is  that  of  the  lands  whereon  they  settled. 

It  appears  that  these  people  did  not  arrive  here  in  one 
body,  but  successively,  in  the  course  of  many  years :  they 
spread  themselves  over  various  parts  of  the  coaits  of  the 


198  ON  ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS. 

North  Sea,  and  even  a  considerable  way  up  the  borders 
of  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe ;  according  to  documents 
which  I  have  mentioned  in  my  Lettres  sur  VHistoire  de  la 
Terre  et  de  PHomme.  These  new  settlers  found  large 
marches,  formed,  as  well  in  the  wide  mouths  of  those  ri- 
vers as  along  the  coasts,  and  around  the  original  islands 
ofgeest;  especially  that  of  Heiligeland,  the  most  distant 
from  the  coast,  and  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Eyder.  Of 
this  island,  which  is  steep  towards  the  south,  the  original 
mass  consists  of  strata  of  sandstone  ;  and  at  that  time  its 
marsch  extended  almost  to  Eyderstede:  there  were  marsches 
likewise  around  all  the  other  original  islands ;  besides 
very  large  islands  of  pure  marsch  in  the  intervals  of  the 
former. 

AH  these  lands  were  desert  at  the  arrival  of  the  Fri- 
sians ;  and  the  parts  on  which  they  established  their  first 
habitations,  to  take  care  of  their  breeds  of  horses  and 
cattle  feeding  on  the  marsches,were  the  original  eminences 
of  the  islands;  on  that  of  Heiligeland  they  built  a  temple 
to  their  great  goddess  Phoseta,  or  Fosta.  When  they 
became  too  numerous  to  confine  themselves  to  the  heights, 
their  herds  being  also  greatly  multiplied,  they  ventured 
to  begin  inhabiting  the  marsches  ;  but  afterwards,  some 
great  inundations  having  shown  them  the  dangers  of  that 
situation,  they  adopted  the  practice  followed  by  those 
who  had  settled  on  the  marsches  of  the  province  of  Gro- 
ningen,  and  still  continued  on  the  Haligs  ;  that  of  raising 
artificial  mounts  called  werfs,  on  which  they  built  their 
houses,  and  whither  they  could,  upon  occasion,  withdraw 
their  herds;  and  it  likewise  appears  that,  in  the  winter, they 
assembled  in  greater  numbers  on  the  spots  originally  the 
highest,  in  the  islands,  as  well  as  OB  some  parts  of  the 
coasts. 


ENCLOSING  THE  MARSCHES.  199 

Things  continued  in  this  state  for  several  centuries ; 
during  which  period,  it  is  probable  that  the  inhabitants 
of  these  lands  were  often,  by  various  catastrophes,  dis- 
turbed in  the  enjoyment  of  them,  though  not  discoura- 
ged. But  in  516,  by  which  time  these  people  were  be- 
come very  numerous,  raore.than  600  of  them  perished  by 
one  of  the  concurrences  of  fatal  circumstances  already 
defined.  It  was  then  that  they  undertook  the  astonish- 
ing enterprise  of  enclosing  these  lands.  They  dug 
ditches  around  all  the  marsches,  heaping  up  on  their  exte- 
rior edge  the  earth  which  was  taken  out ;  and  thus  they 
opposed  to  the  sea,  dikes  of  eight  feet  in  height.  After 
this,  comprehending  that  nothing  could  contribute  more 
to  the  safety  of  their  dwellings,  than  to  remove  the  sea 
to  a  greater  distance,  they  undertook,  with  that  view,  to 
exclude  it  from  the  intervals  between  the  islands,  by 
uniting,  as  far  as  should  be  possible,  those  islands  with 
each  other.  I  will  describe  the  process  by  which  they 
effected  this,  after  I  shall  have  recalled  to  attention  some 
circumstances  leading  to  it. 

From  all  that  I  have  already  said  of  the  fore-lands,  and 
of  the  manner  in  which  they  are  increased,  it  may  be  un- 
derstood, that  the  common  effects  of  the  waves  and  of  the 
tides  is  to  bring  materials  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea  to- 
wards the  coasts ;  and  that  the  process  continues  in  every 
state  of  the  sea.  The  land  winds  produce  no  waves  on  the 
coasts,  which  carry  back  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  what 
has  been  brought  thence  by  the  winds  blowing  against 
the  shore  ;  and  as  for  the  tides,  it  may  have  been  already 
comprehended,  (and  shall  soon  by  proved,)  that  the  ebb 
carries  back  but  very  little  of  what  has  been  brought  by 
the  flood.  So  that,  but  for  some  extraordinary  circum- 
itances,  the  materials  continually  impelled  towards  the 
shore,  which  first  form  islands,  would  at  last  unite  against 


200  ON  ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS. 

the  coast  in  a  continuous  soil.  The  rare  events,  pro- 
ductive of  great  catastrophes,  do  not  carryback  these 
materials  towards  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ;  they  only,  as  it 
has  been  said  before,  ravage  the  surface,  diminishing  the 
heights,  and  destroying  the  effect  of  vegetation.  These 
then  were  the  effects,  against  which  it  was  necessary  to 
guard. 

I  now  come  to  the  plan  of  uniting  the   islands  formed 
by  these  early  inhabitants.     They  availed  themselves  for 
that  purpose  of  all  such  parts  of  the  sand-banks  as  lay  in 
the  intervals  between  the  large  islands,  and  were  begin- 
ning to  produce  grass.     These,  when  surrounded  with 
dikes,  are  what  are  called  Hoogs  ;  and  their  effects  are  to 
break  the  waves,  thus  diminishing  their  action  against  the 
dikes  of  the  large  islands,  and  at  the  same  time  to  deter- 
mine the  accumulation  of  the  mud  in  the  intervals  be- 
tween those  islands.  In  this  manner  a  large  marsch  island, 
named  Everschop,  was  already,  in  987,  united  to  Eyder- 
stede  by  the  point  on  which  Poppenbull  is  situated ;  and  in 
995,  the  union  of  the  same  marsches  was  effected  by  another 
point,  namely  that    of  Tetenbull.     Lastly,  in  the  year 
1000,  Eyderstede  received  a  new  increase  by  the  course 
of  the  Hever,  prolonged  between  the  sand-banks,  being 
fixed  by  a  dike  ;  but  the  whole  still  remained  an  island. 
This  is  an  example,  of  the  manner  in  which  the  marsch 
islands  were  united  by  the  hoogs ;  and  the  chronicle  of 
the  country  says,  that  by  these  labours  the  islands  were 
so  considerably  enlarged  in  size,  and  the  intervals  be- 
tween them  so  much  raised,  that  at  low  water  it  was  pos- 
sible to  pass  on  foot  from  one  to  the  other.     The  extent 
of  these  marsches  was  so  great  on  the  coast  of  Sleswigh 
alone,  that  they  were  divided  into  three  provinces,  two 
of  which  comprehended   the  islands,  and  the  third  com- 
prised the  marsches  contiguous  to  the  coast ;  and  the  same 


UNITING  THE  ISLANDS.  201 

works  were  carried  on  upon  the  marsches  of  the  coast  of 
Holstein. 


But  the  grounds  thus  gained  from  the  sand  banks  were 
very  insecure  ;  these  people,  though  they  had  inhabited 
them  more  than  ten  centuries,  had  not  yet  understood  the 
possibility  of  that  combination  of  fatal  circumstances 
above  described  against  which  their  dikes  formed  but  a 
very  feeble  rampart ;  the  North  Sea,  by  the  extraordinary 
elevations  of  its  level,  being  much  mere  formidable  in 
this  respect  than  the  ocean,  where  the  changes  of  abso- 
lute level  are  much  less  considerable.  I  shall  give  an 
abridged  account  of  the  particulars  extracted  by  M.  Hartz 
from  the  chronicle  of  Dankwerth,  relative  to  the  great 
catastrophes  which  these  marsches  successively  underwent, 
previously  to  the  time  when  experience  led  to  the  means 
necessary  for  their  security. 

In  1075,  the  island  of  Nord  Strand,  then  contiguous  to 
the  coast,  particularly  experienced  the  effect  of  that  un- 
usual combination  of  defective  causes ;  the  sea  passing 
over  its  dike,  and  forming  within  it  large  excavations 
like  lakes.  In  1114  and  1158,  considerable  parts  of 
Eyderstede  were  carried  away ;  and  in  1204,  the  part 
called  Sudhever  in  the  marsch  of  Utholm  was  destroyed. 
All  these  catastrophes  were  fatal  to  many  of  the  marsch 
settlers ;  but  in  1216,  the  sea  having  risen  so  high  that  its 
waves  passed  over  Nord  Strand,  Eyderstede,  and  Dit- 
marsch,  near  10,000  of  their  inhabitants  perished. 
Again,  in  1300,  seven  parishes  in  Nord  Strand  and  Pell- 
worm  were  destroyed;  and  in  1338,  Ditmarsch  expe- 
rienced a  new  catastrophe,  which  swept  away  a  great 
part  of  it  on  the  side  next  Eyderstede :  the  dike  of  the 
course  of  the  Eyder  between  the  sand-banks  was  demo- 
lished, and  the  tides  have  ever  since  preserved  their 

26 


202  ON  ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS. 

course  throughout  that  wide  space.  Lastly,  in  the  year 
1362,  the  isles  of  Fora  and  Sylt,  then  forming  but  one, 
were  divided,  and  Nord  Strand,  then  a  marsch  united  to 
the  coast,  was  separated  from  it. 

During  a  long  time,  the  inhabitants  who  survived 
these  catastrophes,  and  their  successors,  were  so  much 
discouraged,  that  they  attempted  nothing  more  than  to 
surround  with,  dikes  like  the  former  such  spaces  of  their 
meadow-land  as  appeared  the  least  exposed  to  these  ra- 
vages, leaving  the  rest  to  its  fate.  But  the  common 
course  of  causes  continually  tending  to  extend  and  to 
raise  the  grassy  parts  of  the  sand-banks,  and  no  extra- 
ordinary combination  of  circumstances  having  interrupt- 
ed these  natural  operations,  later  generations,  farther 
advanced  in  the  arts,  undertook  to  secure  to  themselves 
the  possession  of  those  new  grounds.  In  1525/.  they 
turned  their  attention  to  the  indentations  made,  during 
the  preceding  catastrophes,  in  the  borders  of  the  marsches  ; 
the  waves,  confined  in  these  narrow  spaces,  sometimes 
threatening  to  cut  their  way  into  the  interior  part.  In 
the  front  of  all  the  creeks  of  this  kind  they  planted 
stakes,  which  they  interlaced  with  osiers,  leaving  a  cer- 
tain space  between  the  lines.  The  waves,  thus  broken, 
could  no  longer  do  injury  to  the  marsch;  and  their  se- 
diments being  deposited  on  both  sides  of  this  open  fence, 
very  solid  fore-lands  were  there  formed.  In  1550,  they 
raised  the  dikes  considerably  higher,  employing  wheelbar- 
rows, the  use  of  which  was  only  then  introduced.  For 
this  purpose  they  much  enlarged  and  deepened  the  inte- 
rior canals,  in  order  to  obtain  more  earth,  not  merely  to 
add  to  the  height  of  the  dikes,  but  to  extend  their  base  on 
the  outer  side.  At  last  they  began  to  cover -these  dikes 
with  straw  ropes ;  but  this  great  preservative  of  dikes 
was  at  first  ill  managed;  and  the  use  of  it  was  so  slowly 


BUILDING    OF    DIKES.  203 

spread,  that  it  was  not  adopted  in  Nord  Strand  and  in  Ey- 
derstede,  till  about  the  years  1610  and  1612. 

Before  that  time,  however,  the  safety  of  the  exten- 
sive soil  of  the  latter  marsch  had  been  provided  for  in  a 
different  manner.     I  have  said  above,  that,  when  the 
isles  of  Everschop  and   Utholm  had  been  united  to  it, 
the   whole  together  still  formed  but  one  large  island; 
now,  in  this  state,  it  was  in  as  great  danger  on  the  side 
towards  the  continent,  as  on  that  open  to  the  sea ;  be- 
cause two  small  rivers,  the  Trene  and  the  Nord  Eyder, 
discharging  themselves  into  the  interval  between  it  and 
the  land,  and  by  preserving  their  course  to  the  sea,  this 
interval  was  thus  kept  open  to  the  tempests,  sometimes 
from  the  side  of  the  Hever ;  sometimes  from  that  of  the 
Eyder;  and  the  waves,   beating  against '  the  geest,  were 
thence  repelled  upon  the  marsch.     The  inhabitants,  see- 
ing that  the  expense  of  remedying  these  evils  would  be 
greater  than  they  could  afford,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  was  indispensable  to  their  safety,  addressed  themselves 
to  their  bishops  and  to  their  prefect,  of  whom   they  re- 
quested  pecuniary  assistance ;  and  having  obtained  it, 
they  first  undertook  the  great  enterprise    of  carrying 
the  Trene  and  the  Nord^Eyder  higher  up  into  the  Ey- 
der ;  keeping  their  waters,  however,  still   separate  for  a 
certain  space,  by  a  dam  with  a  sluice,  in  order  to   form 
there  a  reservoir  of  fresh  water:  the  tides  ascending  up 
the  Eyder  above  Frederichstadt.     They  were  thus  en- 
abled to  carry  on  the  extremities  of  the  dike  on  both 
sides  to  join  the  geest;  and  the  interval  between  the  lat- 
ter and  the  marsch  was  then  soon  filled  up,  there  being 
only  left,  at  their  junction,  the  canal  above  described, 
•which  receives  the  waters  of  the  geest,  and,  at  low  water, 
discharges  them   from  both  its  extremities  by  sluices. 
At  the   same  time,  the  islands  of  Pelhvorm  and  Nord 


204  ON    ALLUVIAL    FORMATIONS. 

Strand  were  united  with  each  other  by  means  of  eight 
hoogs ;  and  the  sandy  marsches  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
contiguous  to  the  geest,  on  the  north  of  that  of  Husum, 
were  enclosed  with  dikes. 

After  the  dikes  had  been  thus  elevated,  and  their  sur- 
face rendered  firm  by  the  straw  ropes,  though  the  latter 
were  not  yet  properly  fixed,  the  inhabitants  of  the  marsches 
for  some  time  enjoyed  repose  ;  but  on  the  1 1th  October, 
1634,  the  sea,  rising  to  an  excessive  height,  carried  away, 
during  the  great  tempest,  the  hoogs  which  had  produced 
the  junction  between  Pellworm  and  Nord  Strand,  these 
having  ever  since  continued  distinct  islands ;  it  also  vio- 
lently attacked  Ditmarsch  ;  and  its  ravages  extended  over 
the  whole  coast,  as  far  as  the  very  extensive  new  lands  of 
Jutland.  Prince*  then  came  forward  zealously  to  the  re- 
lief of  their  subjects.  In  particular,  Frederic  III.,  Duke 
of  Sleswigh,  seeing  that  the  inhabitants  of  Nord  Strand 
were  deficient  both  in  the  talents  and  in  the  means  ne- 
cessary for  the  reparation  and  future  security  of  that  large 
island,  and  knowing  that  the  art  of  dikes  had  made  greater 
progress  in  Holland,  because  of  the  opulence  of  the 
country,  addressed  himself  to  the  States  General,  request- 
ing them  to  send  him  an  engineer  of  dikes  with  workmen 
accustomed  to  repair  them  ;  and  this  was  granted.  The 
dikes  of  Nord  Strand  were  then  repaired  in  the  most  solid 
manner  ;  and  the  Dutch  engineer,  seeing  the  fertility  of 
its  soil,  advised  his  sons  upon  his  death-bed,  to  purchase 
lands  and  settle  there,  if  the  duke  would  grant  them  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion ;  they  being  Jansenist  ca- 
tholics, and  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  Lutherans..  The 
duke  agreed  to  this,  on  condition  that  they  and  their  pos- 
terity should  continue  to  superintend  the  works  carried 
on  upon  the  dikes ;  to  which  they  engaged  themselves. 
From  that  time  the  art  of  dikes,  and  particularly  that  part 


»N  THE  SAND  FLOOP.  205 

of  it  which  consists  in  covering  them  solidly  with  straw, 
has  become  common  to  all  the  marsches  ;  and  the  Dutch 
families,  wrhich  have  contributed  to  this  fortunate  change, 
continue  to  inhabit  the  same  island,  and  to  enjoy  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion. 

NOTE  G.     §11.  p.  48. 

On  the  Sand  Flood. 

In  different  parts  of  Scotland,  as  in  Aberdeenshire, 
Morayshire,  Hebrides,  and  Shetland  Islands,  there  are 
examples  of  the  natural  chronometer,  mentioned  in  the 
text.  One  of  the  most  striking  examples  I  at  present 
recollect  of  this  phenomenon  in  foreign  countries,  is  that 
described  by  M.  De  Luc's  brother,  in  the  Mercure  de 
France,  for  September,  180T* 

The  sands  of  the  Lybian  desert,  he  says,  driven  by 
the  west  winds,  have  left  no  lands  capable  of  tillage 
on  any  parts  of  the  western  banks  of  the  Nile  not  shel- 
tered by  mountains.  The  encroachment  of  these  sands 
on  soils  which  were  formerly  inhabited  and  cultivated  is 
evidently  seen.  M.  Denon  informs  us,  in  the  account 
of  his  Travels  in  Lower  and  Upper  Egypt,  that  summits 
of  the  ruins  of  ancient  cities  buried  under  these  sands  still 
appear  externally;  and  that,  but  for  a  ridge  of  moun- 
tains called  the  Lybian  chain,  which  borders  the  left 
bank  of  the  Nile,  and  forms,  in  the  parts  where  it  rises, 
a  barrier  against  the  invasion  of  these  sands,  the  shores 
of  the  river,  on  that  side,  would  long  since  have  ceased 
to  be  habitable.  Nothing  can  be  more  melancholy, 
says  this  traveller,  than  to  walk  over  villages  swallow- 
ed up  by  the  sand  of  the  desert,  to  trample  under  foot 
their  roofs,  to  strike  against  the  summits  of  their  mina- 
rets, to  reflect  that  yonder  were  cultivated  fields,  that 


206  ON  THE  SAM)  FLOOD. 

there  grew  trees,  that  here  were  even  the  dwellings  of 
men,  and  that  all  has  vanished. 

If  then  our  continents  were  as  ancient  as  has  been 
pretended,  no  traces  of  the  habitation  of  men  would  ap- 
pear on  any  part  of  the  western  bank  of  the  Nile,  which 
is  exposed  to  this  scourge  of  the  sands  of  the  desert.  The 
existence,  therefore,  of  such  monuments  attests  the  suc- 
cessive progress  of  the  encroachments  of  the  sand ;  and 
these  parts  of  the  bank,  formerly  inhabited,  will  for  ever 
remain  arid  and  waste.  Thus  the  great  population  of 
Egypt,  announced  by  the  vast  and  numerous  ruins  of  its 
cities,  was  in  great  part  due  to  a  cause  of  fertility  which 
no  longer  exists,  and  to  which  sufficient  attention  has 
not  been  given.  The  sands  of  the  desert  were  formerly 
remote  from  Egypt ;  the  Oases,  or  habitable  spots,  still 
appearing  in  the  midst  of  the  sands,  being  the  remains  of 
the  soils  formerly  extending  the  whole  way  to  the  Nile ; 
but  these  sands,  transported  hither  by  the  western  winds, 
have  overwhelmed  and  buried  this  extensive  tract,  and 
doomed  to  sterility  a  land  which  was  once  remarka- 
ble for  its  fruitfulness. 

It  is  therefore  not  solely  to  her  revolutions  and 
changes  of  sovereigns  that  Egypt  owes  the  loss  of  her 
ancient  splendour ;  it  is  also  to  her  having  been  thus  ir* 
recoverably  deprived  of  a  tract  of  land,  by  which,  before 
the  sands  of  the  desert  had  covered  it  and  caused  it  to  disap- 
pear, her  wants  had  been  abundantly  supplied.  Now, 
if  we  fix  our  attention  on  this  fact,  and  reflect  on  the  con- 
sequences which  would  have  attended  it  if  thousands,  or 
only  some  hundreds  of  centuries  had  elapsed  since  our 
continents  first  existed  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  does  it 
not  evidently  appear  that  all  the  country  on  the  west  of 
the  Nile  would  have  been  buried  under  this  sand  before 


ON  THE  SAND  FLOOD.  207 

the  erection  of  the  cities  of  ancient  Egypt,  how  remote 
aoever  that  period  may  be  supposed  ;  and  that,  in  a  coun- 
try so  long  afflicted  with  sterility,  no  idea  would  even 
have  been  formed  of  constructing  such  vast  and  nume- 
rous edifices?  When  these  cities  indeed  were  built, 
another  cause  concurred  in  favouring  their  prosperity. 
The  navigation  of  the  Red  Sea  was  not  then  attended 
with  any  danger  on  the  coasts :  all  its  ports,  now  nearly 
blocked  up  with  reefs  of  coral,  had  a  safe  and  easy  ac- 
cess ;  the  vessels  laden  with  merchandise  and  provisions 
could  enter  them  and  depart  without  risk  of  being  wreck- 
ed on  these  shoals,  which  have  risen  since  that  time,  and 
are  still  increasing  in  extent. 

The  defects  of  the  present  government  of  Egypt, 
and  the  discovery  of  the  passage  from  Europe  to  India 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  are  therefore  not  the 
only  causes  of  the  present  state  of  decline  of  this  coun- 
try. If  the  sands  of  the  desert  had  not  invaded  the  bor- 
dering lands  on  the  west,  if  the  work  of  the  sea  polypi  in 
the  Red  Sea  had  not  rendered  dangerous  the  access  to 
its  coasts  and  to  its  ports,  and  even  filled  up  some  of  the 
latter,  the  population  of  Egypt  and  the  adjacent  coun- 
tries, together  with  their  product,  would  alone  have  suf- 
ficed to  maintain  them  in  a  state  of  prosperity  and  abun- 
dance. But  now,  though  the  passage  to  India  by  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  should  cease  to  exist,  though  the 
political  advantages  which  Egypt  enjoyed  during  the 
brilliant  period  of  Thebes  and  Memphis  should  be  re- 
established, she  could  never  again  attain  the  same  de- 
gree of  splendour. 

Thus  the  reefs  of  coral  which  had  been  raised  in  the 
Red  Sea  on  the  east  of  Egypt,  and  the  sands  of  the  desert 
which  invade  it  on  the  west,  concur  in  attesting  this 


1208  ACTION  OF  THE  SEA  UPON  COASTS. 

truth :  That  our  continents  are  not  of  a  more  remote 
antiquity  than  has  been  assigned  to  them  by  the  sacred  his- 
torian in  the  book  of  Genesis,  from  the  great  era  of  the 
Deluge. 

NOTE  H.  §  12.  p.  50. 

Action  of  the  Sea  upon  Coasts. 

The  ocean,  in  its  action  upon  the  cliffs  and  banki 
situated  on  the  coasts,  break  them  down  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  and  either  accumulates  the  debris  at  their 
basis  in  the  form  of  sea  breaches  of  greater  or  less  mag- 
nitude, or  by  currents  carries  it  away  to  be  deposited 
upon  other  shores,  or  to  give  rise  to  sand-banks  near 
the  coast,  which,  in  the  course  of  time,  became  united  to 
the  land,  and  thus  secures  it  from  the  further  action  of 
the  sea.  These  destroying  and  forming  effects  of  the 
waters  of  the  ocean  are  to  be  observed  all  around  the 
coasts  of  this  island ;  and  beautiful  examples  of  such  ac- 
tions are  to  be  seen  on  the  coasts  of  Ireland,  and  in 
many  of  the  islands  that  lie  on  the  west  and  north  of 
Great  Britain.  In  a  paper  read  before  the  Wernerian 
Natural  History  Society,  Mr.  Stevenson,  engineer,  men- 
tions many  facts  illustrative  of  the  destroying  effects 
of  the  ocean  on  our  coasts. — Thus  he  informs  us  that  the 
waters  of  the  sea  are  wearing  away  the  land  upon  both 
sides  of  the  Frith  of  Forth,  not  only  in  exposed,  but  also 
in  sheltered  situations,  and  the  solid  strata,  as  well  as  the 
looser  alluvial  formations,  which  owe  their  origin  to  the 
destroying  agency  of  the  ocean  at  a  former  period,  are 
again  yielding  to  its  action.  At  Saint  Andrews,  the  fa- 
mous castle  of  Cardinal  Beatoun,  which  is  said  originally 
to  have  been  some  distance  from  the  sea,  now  almost 
overhangs  it:  From  St.  Andrews  northward  to  Eden 
water  and  the  River  Tay,  the  coast  presents  a  sandy 
beach,  and  is  so  liable  to  shift,  that  it  is  difficult  to  trace 


ACTION  OF  THE  SEA  UPON  COASTS.  209 

the  change  it  may  have  undergone.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  within  this  last  century,  the  sea  has  made  such 
an  impression  upon  the  sands  of  Barrey,  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  Tay,  that  the  light-houses  at  the  entrance  of 
the  river,  which  were  formerly  erected  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  Button-ness,  have  been  from  time  to  time 
removed  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  farther  northward, 
on  account  of  the  wasting  and  shifting  of  these  sandy 
shores,  and  that  the  spot  on  which  the  outer  light-house 
stood  in  the  17th  century,  is  now  two  or  three  fathoms 
under  water,  and  is  at  least  three  quarters  of  a  mile  within 
flood  mark. 

At  the  ancient  town  of  Burghhead,  to  the  north  of  the 
Spey,  an  old  fort  or  establishment  of  the  t)anes,  was 
built  upon  a  sandstone  cliff,  which  tradition  says,  had  a 
very  considerable  tract  of  land  beyond  it ;  but  is  now 
washed  by  the  waves,  and  overhangs  the  sea.  The  old 
town  of  Findhorn  was  destroyed  by  the  sea,  and  the  site 
of  it  is  now  overflowed  by  every  tide.  At  Fort  George, 
some  of  the  projecting  bastions,  formerly  at  a  distance 
from  the  sea,  are  now  in  danger  of  being  undermined  by 
the  water. 

In  Orkney,  the  Start-Point  of  Sanday,  which  is  now 
formed  into  an  island  every  flood  tide,  was  even  in  the 
recollection  of  some  old  people  still  alive,  one  continu- 
ous tract  of  firm  ground ;  but  at  present,  the  channel  be- 
tween Sariday  and  the  Start  Island,  as  it  is  now  called,  is 
hardly  left  by  the  water  in  neap  tides ;  and  since  a  light- 
house was  erected  upon  this  point  about  ten  years  ago, 
the  channel  appears  to  have  been  worn  down  at  least 
two  feet.  Similar  destroying  effects  of  the  water  of  the 
ecean  are  observed  on  the  coasts  of  England. 

27 


21  (J  O.N  CORAL  ISLANDS. 


§   15.  p.  51. 

On  Coral  Islands. 

Of  all  the  genera  of  lythophytes,  the  madrepore  is  the 
most  abundant.  It  occurs  most  frequently  in  tropical 
countries,  and  decreases  in  number  and  variety  as  we  ap- 
proach the  poles.  It  encircles  in  prodigious  rocks  and 
vast  reefs  many  of  the  basaltic  and  other  rocky  islands  in 
the  South  Sea  and  Indian  Ocean,  and  by  its  daily  growth 
adds  to  their  magnitude.  The  coasts  of  the  islands  in 
the  West  Indies,  also  those  of  the  islands  on  the  east 
coast  of  Africa,  and  the  shores  and  shoals  of  the  Red 
Sea,  are  encircled  and  incrusted  with  rocks  of  coral. 
Several  different  species  of  madrepore  contribute  to 
form  these  coral  reefs ;  but  by  far  the  most  abundant 
is  the  muricated  madrepore,  madrepora  muricata  of  Lin- 
naeus. These  lithophytic  animals  not  only  add  to  the 
magnitude  of  land  already  existing,  but,  as  Cuvier  re- 
marks, they  form  whole  islands.  Dr.  Forster,  in  his  Ob- 
servations made  during  a  Voyage  round  the  World,  gives 
a  curious  account  of  the  formation  of  these  coral  islands 
in  the  South  Sea. 

All  the  low  isles,  he  says,  seems  to  me  to  be  a  production 
of  the  sea,  or  rather  its  inhabitants,  the  polype-like  animals 
forming  the  lithophytes.  These  animalcules  raise  their 
habitation  gradually  from  a  small  base,  always  spreading 
more  and  more,  in  proportion  as  the  structure  grows  high- 
er. The  materials  are  a  kind  of  lime  mixed  with  some 
animal  substance.  I  have  seen  these  large  structures  in 
all  stages,  and  of  various  extent.  Near  Turtle  Island,  we 
found,  at  a  few  miles  distance,  and  to  leeward  of  it,  a 
considerable  large  circular  reef,  over  which  the  sea  broke 
every  where,  and  no  part  of  it  was  above  water ;  it  in- 
cluded a  large  deep  lagoon.  To  the  east  and  north-gast 


PN  CORAL  ISLANDS.  211 

of  the  Society  Isles,  are  great  many  isles,  which,  in  some 
parts,  are  above  water ;  in  others,  the  elevated  parts  are 
connected  by  reefs,  some  of  which  are  dry  at  low  wa- 
ter, and  others  are  constantly  under  water.  The  ele- 
vated parts  consist  of  a  soil  formed  by  a  sand  of  shells 
and  coral  rocks,  mixed  with  a  light  black  mould,  produ- 
ced from  putrefied  vegetables,  and  the  dung  of  sea-fowls  ; 
and  are  commonly  covered  by  cocoa-nut  trees  and  other 
shrubs,  and  a  few  antiscorbutic  plants.  The  lower  parts 
have  only  a  few  shrubs  and  the  above  plants ;  others 
still  lower,  are  washed  by  the  sea  at  high  water.  All 
these  isles  are  connected,  and  include  a  lagoon  in  the 
middle,  which  is  full  of  the  finest  fish ;  and  sometimes 
there  is  an  opening,  admitting  a  boat  or  canoe  in  the 
reef,  but  I  never  saw  or  heard  of  an  opening  that  would 
admit  a  ship. 

•rlHMliWPl  v^vr.'t.'.TiU'  V^v.-r..'     -fri*^ 

The  reef,  or  the  first  origin  of  these  isles,  is  formed  by 
the  animalcules  inhabiting  the  lithophytes.  They  raise 
their  habitation  within  a  little  of  the  surface  of  the  sea, 
which  gradually  throws  shells,  weeds,  sand,  small  bits  of 
corals,  and  other  things,  on  the  tops  of  these  coral  rocks, 
and  at  last  fairly  raises  them  above  water ;  where  the 
above  things  continue  to  be  accumulated  by  the  sea,  till 
by  a  bird,  or  by  the  sea,  a  few  seeds  of  plants,  that  com- 
monly grow  on  the  sea-shore,  are  thrown  up,  and  begin 
to  vegetate  ;  and  by  their  annual  decay  and  reproduc- 
tion from  seeds,  create  a  little  mould,  yearly  accumulated 
by  the  mixture  with  sand,  increasing  the  dry  spot  on 
every  side ;  till  another  sea  happens  to  carry  a  cocoa- 
nut  hither,  which  preserves  its  vegetative  power  a  long 
time  in  the  sea,  and  therefore  will  soon  begin  to  grow 
on  this  soil,  especially  as  it  thrives  equally  io  all  kinds  of 
soil ;  and  thus  may  all  these  low  isles  have  became  cover- 
ed with  the  finest  cocoa-nut  trees. 


21*2  ON  eORAL  ISLANDS. 

The  animalcules  forming  these  reefs,  went  to  shel- 
ter their  habitation  from  the  impetuosity  of  the  winds* 
and  the  power  and  rage  of  the  ocean ;  but  as,  within  the 
tropics,  the  winds  blow  commonly  from  one  quarter, 
they,  by  instinct,  endeavour  to  stretch  only  a  ledge,  with- 
in which  is  a  lagoon,  which  is  certainly  entirely  screen- 
ed against  the  power  of  both :  this  therefore  might  ac- 
count for  the  method  employed  by  the  animalcules  in 
building  only  narrow  ledges  of  coral  roclss,  to  secure  m 
their  middle  a  calm  and  sheltered  place  :  and  this  seems 
to  me  to  be  the  most  probable  cause  of  THE  ORIGIN  of 
all  THE  TROPICAL  LOW  ISLES,  over  the  whole  South 
Sea. 

That  excellent  navigator,  the  late  Captain  Flinders, 
gives  the-  following  interesting  account  of  the  formation 
of  Coral  Islands,  particularly  of  Half-way  Island  on  the 
north  coast  of  Terra  Australis  :* 

This  little  island,  or  rather  the  surrounding  reef, 
which  is  three  of  four  miles  long,  affords  shelter  from 
the  southeast  winds ;  and  being  at  a  moderate  day's  run 
from  Murray's  Isles,  it  forms  a  convenient  anchorage  for 
the  night  to  a  ship  passing  through  Torres'  Strait:  I 
named  it  Half-way  Island.  It  is  scarcely  more  than  a 
mile  in  circumference,  but  appears  to  be  increasing  both 
in  elevation  and  extent.  At  no  very  distant  period  of 
time,  it  was  one  of  those  banks  produced  by  the  wash- 
ing up  of  sand  and  broken  coral,  of  which  most  reefs  af- 
ford instances,  and  those  of  Torres'  Strait  a  great  many. 
These  banks  are  in  different  stages  of  progress :  some, 
like  this,  are  become  islands,  but  not  yet  habitable ; 

some  are  above  high  water  mark,  but  destitute  of  vege- 
^ 

*  Vol.  II.  p.  114,  115,  116. 


ON  CORAL  ISLANDS.  213 

tation;   whilst  others  are  overflowed  with  every  return- 
ing tide. 

It  seems  to  me,  that  when  the  animalcules,  which 
form  the  corals  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  cease  to  live, 
their  structures  adhere  to  each  other,  by  virtue  either  of 
the  glutinous  remains  within,  or  of  some  property  in  salt 
water ;  and  the  interstices  being  gradually  filled  up 
with  sand  and  broken  pieces  of  coral  washed  by  the  sea, 
which  also  adhere,  a  mass  of  rock  is  at  length  formed. 
Future  races  of  these  animalcules  erect  their  habitations 
upon  the  rishig  bank,  an8  die  in  their  turn  to  increase, 
but  principally  to  elevate,  this  monument  of  their  won- 
derful labours.  The  care  taken  to  work  perpendicularly 
in  the  early  stages,  would  mark  a  surprising  instinct  in 
these  diminutive  creatures.  Their  wall  of  coral  for  the 
most  part,  in  situations  where  the  winds  are  constant, 
being  arrived  at  the  surface,  affords  a  shelter,  to  leeward 
of  which  their  infant  colonies'  may  be  safely  sent  forth ; 
and  to  this  their  instinctive  foresight  it  seems  to  be  owing, 
that  the  windward  side  of  a  reef  exposed  to  the  open  sea, 
is  generally,  if  not  always,  the  highest  part,  and  rises  al- 
most perpendicular,  sometimes  from  the  depth  of  200, 
and  perhaps  many  more  fathoms.  To  be  constantly  co- 
vered with  water,  seems  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the 
animalcules,  for  they  do  not  work,  except  in  holes  upon 
the  reef,  beyond  low  water  mark  ;  but  the  coral  sand  and 
other  broken  remnants  thrown  up  by  the  sea,  adhere  to 
the  rock,  and  form  a  solid  mass  with  it,  as  high  as  the 
common  tides  reach.  That  elevation  surpassed,  the  fu- 
ture remnants,  being  rarely  covered,  lose  their  adhesive 
property ;  and  remaining  in  a  loose  state,  form  what  is 
usually  called  a  key,  upon  the  top  of  the  reef.  The  new 
bank  is  not  long  in  being  visited  by  sea  birds  ;  salt  plants,, 
take  root  upon  it,  and  a  soil  begins  to  be  formed  ;  a  cp- 


.214  OS  CORAL  ISLANDS. 

coa-nut,  or  the  drupe  of  a  pandanus,  is  thrown  on  shore  ; 
land  birds  visit  it,  and  deposit  the  seeds  of  shrubs  and 
trees ;  every  high  tide,  and  still  more  every  gale,  adds 
something  to  the  bank ;  the  form  of  an  island  is  gra- 
dually assumed;  and  last  of  all  comes  man  to  take  pos- 
session. 

Half-way  Island  is  well  advanced  in  the  above  pro- 
gressive state  ;  having  been  many  years,  probably  some 
ages,  above  the  reach  of  the  highest  spring  tides,  or  the 
wash  of  the  surf  in  the  heaviest  gales.  I  distinguished, 
however,  in  the  rock  which  forms  its  basis,  the  sand, 
coral,  and  shells,  formerly  thrown  up,  in  a  more  or  less 
perfect  state  of  cohesion.  Small  pieces  of  wood,  pumice 
stone,  and  other  extraneous  bodies  which  chance  had 
mixed  with  the  calcarious  substances  when  the  cohesion 
began,  were  enclosed  in  the  rock ;  and  in  some  cases 
were  still  separable  from  it  without  much  force.  The 
upper  part  of  the  island  is  a  mixture  of  the  same  sub- 
stances in  a  loose  state,  with  a  little  vegetable  soil ;  and 
is  covered  with  the  casuarina  and  a  variety  of  other  trees 
and  shrubs,  which  give  food  to  parroquets,  pigeons,  and 
some  other  birds ;  to  whose  ancestors,  it  is  probable,  the 
island  was  originally  indebted  for  this  vegetation. 

NOTE  K.     §  16.  p.  53. 

On  the  Diminution  of  the  Waters  of  the  Ocean. 
That  the  water  of  the  ocean  has  diminished,  and  is  still 
diminishing,  can  scarcely  be  doubted ;  yet  the  rate  of 
decrease  since  the  period  of  the  deluge  has  been  so  gradu- 
al, being  now  effected  not  by  the  conversion  of  the  water 
into  the  earthy  materials  of  which  the  globe  is  composed, 
but  principally  by  the  agency  of  animals,  vegetables,  and 
volcanoes,  that,  on  a  general  view,  it  may  be  said  to  be 
nearly  imperceptible.  The  facts  mentioned  by  Celsius  and 


OX  THE  DIMINUTION  OF  THE  WATERS,  &C.         215 

tHhers,  in  regard  to  the  rapid  diminution  of  the  waters  of 
the  Baltic,  have  been  much  insisted  on  by  some  geolo- 
gists, although  they  cannot  correctly  be  employed  in  il- 
lustrating the  supposed  general  diminution  of  the  waters 
of  the  globe ;  because  the  Baltic  is  a  nearly  enclosed  sea, 
receiving  rivers  of  considerable  magnitude.  Professor 
Playfair,  in  his  elegant  geological  work,  remarks  in  re- 
gard to  the  diminution  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean : — 

"If  we  proceed  further  to  the  north,  to  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic  for  instance,  we  have  undoubted  evidence  of  a 
change  of  level  in  the  same  direction  as  on  our  own  shores. 
The  level  of  the  sea  has  been  represented  as  lowering  at  so 
great  a  rate  ^  forty  inches  in  a  century.  Celsius  observed, 
that  several  rocks  which  are  now  above  the  water,  were 
not  long  ago  sunken  rocks,  and  dangerous  to  navigators ; 
and  he  took  particular  notice  of  one  which  in  the  year 
1680,  was  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  in  the  year 
1T31  was  20£  Swedish  inches  above  it.  From  an  inscrip- 
tion near  the  Aspo,  in  the  lake  Melar,  which  communi- 
cates with  the  Baltic,  engraved,  as  is  supposed,  about  five 
centuries  ago,  the  level  of  the  sea  appears  to  have  sunk 
in  that  time  no  less  than  thirteen  Swedish  feet.  All  these 
facts,  with  many  more  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  enume- 
rate, make  the  gradual  depression,  not  only  of  the  Baltic, 
but  of  the  whole  Northern  Ocean,  a  matter  of  certainty." 
— PLAYFAIR'S  Illustrations,  p.  445. 

That  indefatigable  and  accurate  observer  De  Luc,  has 
the  following  commentary  on  the  preceding  passage : — 

"  It  would  be  unnecessary  to  mention  even  the  two  in- 
considerable facts  above,  if  the  depression  of  the  level  of 
these  seas  were  indeed  a  matter  of  certainty;  for  the  best 
mithenticated  and  thq  Jeafst  eqtiivocal  monuments  of  their 


216          ON  THE  DIMINUTION  OF  THE  WATERS,  &C. 

c 

change  would  then  abound  along  all  their  coasts.  But 
proofs  are  every  where  found  that  such  a  change  is  chime- 
rical :  they  may  be  seen  in  all  the  vales  coming  down  to 
these  seas,  in  which  there  is  no  perceptible  impression  of  the 
action  of  any  waters  but  those  of  the  land,  and  no  vestige, 
through  their  whole  extent,  of  any  permanent  abode  of 
those  of  the  sea;  and  proofs  to  the  same  effect  areequal- 
ly,visible,  along  the  coasts  of  both  these  seas,  in  all  the 
new  lands  which  have  been  formed  on  them,  and  which, 
being  perfectly  horizontal,  from  the  point  where  their  for~ 
jnation  commenced,  evidently  show  that  the  water  dis- 
placed by  them  has  been  constantly  at  the  same  level. 
Hence  appears  the  necessity  of  multiplying,  as  I  have 
done  and  shall  continue  to  do,  for  the  subversion  of  a  pre- 
judice of  such  ancient  date,  the  examples  of  these  pe- 
remptory proofs  of  its  total  want  of  foundation.  The  rock 
mentioned  by  Celsius  had  probably  been  observed  by  him 
at  times  when  the  level  of  the  sea  was  different ;  its  known 
differences  much  exceeding  the  quantity  here  specified. 
As  for  the  inscription  near  Aspo,  in  a  country  abounding 
•with  lakes  as  much  as  that  which  I  have  above  described, 
if  we  were  acquainted  with  its  terms,  we  should  probably 
find  it  to  be,  like  many  which  I  have  seen  in  various 
places  along  the  course  of  the  Oder  and  the  Elbe,  the 
monument  of  some  extraordinary  inundation  of  the  land, 
from  the  sudden  melting  of  the  snows  in  the  mountains, 
at  a  time  when  the  water  had  been  prevented  from  run- 
ning off  by  an  equally  extraordinary  rise  of  the  level  of 
the  sea ;  of  which  the  effects  on  low  coasts  may  extend 
very  far  inland. 

"  By  his  conclusion,  however,  from  these  few  facts,  con- 
trary to  every  thing  observed  on  the  coasts  of  this  sea, 
Mr.  Play  fair  thinks  himself  authorized  to  maintain  that 
the  gradual  depression,  not  only  of  the  Baltic,  but  of  the  whole 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PETRIFACTIONS.  217 

northern  ocean,  is  a  matter  of  certainty;  afterwards  he  ex- 
amines merely  which  of  these  two  causes,  the  subsidence 
of  the  sea  itself,  or  the  elevation  of  the  land  around  it, 
agrees  the  best  with  the  phenomena  ;  and  he  decides  in 
favour  of  the  latter,  pointing  out  its  accordance  with  the 
Huttonian  Theory." 

NOTE  L.     (A.)     §  23, 

Werner's  Views  of  the  Natural  History  of  Petrifactions. 

From  the  observation  in  section  22,  Cuvier  does  not 
appear  to  have  known  how  much  Werner  has  done  for 
the  advancement  of  the  natural  history  of  fossil  organic 
remains.  He  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  developement 
of  the  mere  mineralogical  branch  of  the  theory  of  the 
earth  ;  on  the  contrary,  early  in  life  he  began  to  investi- 
gate the  relations  of  all  the  classes  of  fossil  organic  re- 
mains, being  well  convinced,  that  without  an  accurate 
and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  these  interesting  bodies, 
geological  speculation  would  have  excited  but  compara- 
tively little  notice.  Many  years  ago  he  embodied  all 
that  was  known  of  petrifactions  into  a  regular  system. 
He  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  every  geognostical  cabinet 
containing,  besides  complete  series  of  rocks  for  illustra- 
ting the  mineralogical  relations  of  the  globe,  an  exten- 
sive collection  not  only  of  shells,  but  also  of  the  various 
productions  of  the  class  zoophyta,  of  plants,  particularly 
of  sea  plants  and  ferns;  and  an  examination  of  the  re- 
mains of  quadrupeds  in  the  great  limestone  caves  and  al- 
luvial soils  of  Germany,  soon  pointed  out  to  him  the  ne- 
cessity of  attaching  to  the  geognostical  cabinet  also  one 
of  comparative  osteology.  As  his  views  in  geognosy  en- 
larged, he  saw  more  and  more  the  value  of  a  close  and 
deep  study  of  petrifactions.  He  first  made  the  highly  im- 
portant observation,  that  different  formations  can  be  dis- 
criminated by  the  petrifactions  they  contain.  It  was 

28 


21$  NATURAL  HISTORY 

during  the  course  of  his  geognostical  investigations  thai 
he  ascertained  the  general  distribution  of  organic  remains 
in  the  crust  of  the  earth.  He  found  that  petrifactions 
appear  first  in  transition  rocks.  These  are  but  few  in 
number,  and  of  animals  of  the  zoophytic  or  testaceous 
classes.  In  the  older  flretz  rocks  they  are  of  more  per- 
fect species,  as  of  fish  and  amphibious  animals  ;  and  in  the 
newest  floetz  and  alluvial  rocks,  of  birds  and  quadrupeds, 
or  animals  of  the  most  perfect  kinds.  He  always  main- 
tained that  no  fossil  remains  of  the  human  species  had  been 
found  in  floetz  rocks,  or  in  any  of  the  older  alluvial  for- 
mations ;  but  was  of  opinion  that  such  remains  might  be 
discovered  in  the  very  newest  of  the  alluvial  depositions. 
He  was  also  led  to  believe,  from  his  numerous  observa- 
tions, that  sea  plants  were  of  more  ancient  origin  than 
land  plants.  A  careful  study  of  the  genera  and  species  of 
petrifactions  disclosed  to  him  another  important  fact, 
viz,  that  the  petrifactions  contained  in  the  oldest  rocks 
are  very  different  from  any  of  the  species  of  the  present 
time  ;  that  the  newer  the  formation,  the  more  do  the  re- 
mains approach  in  form  to  the  organic  beings  of  the  pre- 
sent creation ;  and  that  in  the  very  newest  formations, 
fossil  remains  of  the  presently  existing  species  occur. 
He  also  ascertained,  that  the  petrifactions  in  the  oldest 
rocks  are  much  more  mineralized  than  those  in  the  newer 
rocks,  and  that  in  the  newest  rocks  they  are  merely 
bleached  or  calcined.  He  found  that  some  species  of 
petrifaction  were  confined  to  particular  beds  ;  others 
were  distributed  throughout  whole  formations,  and  others 
seemed  to  occur  in  several  different  formations ;  the  ori- 
ginal species  found  in  these  formations  appearing  to 
have  been  so  constituted  as  to  live  through  a  variety  of 
changes  which  had  destroyed  hundreds  of  other  species, 
which  we  find  confined  to  particular  beds. 


OP  PETRIFACTIONS.  219 

NOTE  M.     §  23. 
On  tht  Distribution  of  Petrifactions  in  the  different 

Classes  of  Roc/$s» 

As  an  account  of  the  distribution  of  fossil  organic  re- 
mains  throughout  the  strata,  of  which  the  crust  of  the 
earth  is  composed,  cannot  fail  to  prove  interesting,  even 
to  the  general  reader,  we  shall  here  give  a  very  short 
sketch  of  what  is  known  on  the  subject.  Fossil  organic 
remains,  or  petrifactions,  have  not  hitherto  been  disco- 
vered in  any  of  the  primitive  rocks  ;  indeed  it  would  ap- 
pear that  animals  and  vegetables  were  not  called  into  ex- 
istence until  the  period  when  the  transition  rocks  began 
to  be  formed.  Hence  it  is,  that  petrifactions  have  not 
been  met  with  in  any  rock  older  than  those  of  the  transi- 
tion class. 

TRANSITION  ROCKS. 

The  principal  transition  rocks  are  greywacke,  grey- 
wacke  slate,  clay  slate,  limestone,  greenstone,  amygda- 
loid, syenite,  porphyry,  and  granite.  All  of  them  do  not 
afford  petrifactions,  these  bodies  having  been  hitherto 
found  only  in  limestone,  greywacke,  greywacke  slate,  and 
clay  slate. 

1 .   Transition  Limestone. 

Fossil  corallitic  bodies,  such  as  madreporites,  tubipo- 
rites,  and  milleporites,  of  different  species,  abound  in 
many  varieties  of  this  limestone.  It  is  in  general  difficult 
to  determine  the  species  of  these  genera,  owing  to  their 
being  much  intermixed  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
matter  of  limestone.  On  a  general  view,  they  certainly 
approach  in  external  characters  to  those  corals  we  at 
present  meet  within  a  living  state  in  the  tropical  regions  of 
the  globe.  Intermixed  with  these  corals,  or  in  separate 
strata,  we  find  various  species  of  orthoceratites,  lituites, 


220  NATURAL  HISTORY 

ammonites,  belemnites,  nautilites,  lenticulites,  chamites, 
terebratulites,  anomites,  and  patellites. 

2.  Greywacke. 

This  is  a  rock,  including  in  a  basis  of  quartzy  clay 
slate,  variously  shaped  masses  of  clay  slate,  greywacke 
slate,  flinty  slate,  and  sometimes  also  masses  and  grains 
of  felspar,  and  scales  of  mica.  It  very  rarely  contains 
petrifactions.  Hence  in  maay  extensive  tracts  of  coun- 
try where  it  predominates,  not  a  single  fossil  organic  re- 
main is  to  be  seen.  The  animal  petrifactions  which 
have  been  discovered  in  this  rock  are  ammonites,  and 
madreporites,  of  the  same  species  as  those  met  with  in 
clay  slate,  and  greywacke  slate ;  also  solenites,  mytu- 
lites,  tellinites,  and  large  orthoceratites.  The  vegetable 
petrifactions  are  alleged  to  be  fruits,  stems  and  leaves  of 
palm-like  vegetables,  and  parts  of  reeds. 

3.  Clay  Slate. 

It  rarely  contains  petrifactions ;  and  the  only  kinds 
hitherto  met  with  in  it  appear  to  be  ammonites  and  tri- 
lobites. 

V 

4.  Greywacke  Slate. 

This  rock  seldom  contains  petrifactions.  Where  it 
borders  on  the  clay  slate,  it  contains  the  same  kinds  of 
ammonites  as  occur  in  that  rock,  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
greywacke  and  transition  limestone,  we  observe  in  it 
orthoceratites,  corrallites,  and  fossil  remains  of  reeds 
and  marine  plants.  The  orthoceratites  gracilis  of,Blu- 
menbach,  the  Molossus  of  Montfort,  and  also  the  coral- 
liolites  orthoceratoides,  which  are  found  in  this  rockr 
seem  to  belong  to  those  remarkable  corals  that  form  a 
kind  of  connecting  link  between  shells  and  corals.  Par- 
ticular beds  of  siliceous  and  ferruginous  nature,  subor- 


OP  PETRIFACTIONS.  221 

dinate  to  the  greywacke  slate,  abound  more  in  petrifac- 
tions. They  contain  principally  some  species  of  madre- 
porites;  also  screw-stones,  (schraubensteine),  which  ap- 
pear to  be  derived  from  the  coralliolites  epithonius,  and 
whole  families  of  terrebratulites,  with  a  few  species  of 
turbinites,  and  striped  chamites. 

It  appears  from  the  preceding  statement,  that  in  ge- 
neral the  different  species  of  transition  rocks  contain 
similar  petrifactions,  and  that  they  are  principally  dis- 
tinguished by  the  number  of  corals  and  orthoceratites 
imbedded  in  them. 

TLffiTZ  ROCKS. 

Fossil  organic  remains  are  much  more  abundant,  and 
more  varied  in  the  rocks  of  this  than  of  the  preceding 
class.  We  shall  enumerate  the  rocks  of  this  class  ac- 
cording to  their  relative  antiquity,  and  begin  with  the 
lowest  or  first  formed  number  of  the  series,  which  is 
named. 

I.  First  Sandstone,  or  Old  Red  Sandstone. 
This  rock  is  characterized  by  its  colour,  composition, 
imbedded  minerals,  strata  with  which  it  is  associated,  the 
veins  that  traverse  it,  and  its  position  in  regard  to  the 
other  rocks  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  composed. 
It  rests  upon  the  transition  rocks,  and  is  very  intimately 
connected  with  them,  as  transitions  are  to  be  observed 
from  the  one  into  the  other.  On  a  general  view,  it  might 
be  viewed  as  the  newest  member  of  the  transition  class, 
rather  than  the  oldest  of  the  flcetz  rocks.  The  red  sand- 
stone contains  but  few  petrifactions,  and  the&e  are  princi- 
pally of  trunks  or  branches  of  trees,  some  of  which  appear 
to  resemble  those  of  the  tropical  regions.  The  great  coal 
formation  sometimes  rests  upon  this  sandstone.  In  the 


222  NATURAL  HISTORY 

sandstone  whioh  is  associated  with  the  coal,  and  also  in 
the  slate  clay  with  which  it  alternates,  there  frequently 
occur  remains  of  common  and  of  arborescent  ferns,  gi- 
gantic reeds,  palms,  and  leaves  of  a  tree  which  resembles 
the  casuarina,  and  which  was  long  considered  as  an  equise- 
tum.  In  the  limestone,  slate  clay,  &c.  of  the  coal  fields 
in  this  country,  many  petrifactions  occur,  such  as  ortho- 
ceratites,  ammonites,  nautilites,  serjpulites,  patellites,  he- 
licites,  turbites,  buccinites,  trochites,  mytulites,  cardites, 
anomites,  pectinites,  echinites,  entrochites,  and  millepo- 
rites.  Bones  and  teeth  of  fishes  are  said  to  have  been 
also  found  in  the  coal  formation. 

II.     First  Fleet z  Limestone. 

This  limestone  rests  immediately  on  the  first  sandstone 
formation.  It  is  divided  into  the  following  members  : 
1.  Alpine  limestone.  2.  Bituminous  marl  slate.  3.  Zech- 
stein.  4.  The  coal  subordinate  to  the  formation  in  ge- 
neral. 

1.  Alpine  Limestone.* 

This  is  the  most  highly  crystallized  limestone  of  the 
series.  It  is  principally  characterized  by  the  ammonites 
and  lenticulites  it  contains.  In  it  we  also  meet  with  single 
coralliolites,  encrinites,  terebratulites,  ostracites,  bucci- 
nites, chamites,  echinites,  belemnites,  and  gryphites. 

'.•      2.  Bituminous  Marl  Slate. 

This  remarkable  limestone  is  very  widely  distributed, 
and  often  contains  abundance  of  petrified  fishes,  which 


*  This  limestone  appears  to  agree  in  many  characters  with  the 
mountain  or  matalliferous  limestone  of  England,  and  like  that  rock  to 
rest  sometimes  upon  old  red  sandstone,  and  sometimes  upon  grey- 
wacke.  If  is  very  intimately  related  to  both  these  great  formations^ 


OF  PETRIFACTIONS.  223 

are  in  general  most  numerous  in  those  places  where  the 
rock  occurs  in  basin-shaped  strata.  Many  attempts  have 
been  made  to  determine  the  genera  and  species  of  these 
animals,  but  hitherto  with  little  success.  It  would  ap- 
pear that  the  greater  number  are  fresh-water  species,  and 
a  few  marine  species.  But  the  most  remarkable  fossil 
organic  remain  hitherto  found  in  this  limestone,  is  that  of 
an  animal  of  the  genus  monitor,  of  the  class  amphibia,  of 
which  Cuvier  has  given  an  interesting  account  in  his 
great  work  on  Fossil  Organic  Remains. 

Petrifactions  of  vegetables  rarely  occur  in  this  lime- 
stone ;  we  sometimes  meet  with  branches  of  plants  ana- 
logous to  the  lycopodiumj  and  more  rarely  fragments  of 
ferns,  and  of  plants  allied  to  the  genus  phalaris, 

Amongst  these  fresh-water  productions,  we  meet  with 
various  fossil  remains  of  marine  animals,  such  as  gry- 
phites, pentacrinites,  trilobites,  and  corallophites. 

3.  Zechstein. 

This  rock,  in  some  of  its  characters,  resembles  the  al- 
pine limestone,  but  does  not  contain  so  many  petrifac- 
tions. Ammonites  occur  in  it ;  and  pentacrinites  fasci- 
culosus,  and  whole  families  of  gryphites  aculeatus.  It 
contains  more  rarely  the  gryphites  rugosus,  terebratulites 
alatus,  terebratulites  lacunosus,  and  probably  also  the  te- 
rebratulites striatissimus,  T.  obliquus,  and  T.  variabilis. 
It  affords  nearly  the  same  species  of  milleporites  and 
coralliolites  as  are  found  in  the  bituminous  marl  slate. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  nearly  all  the  petrifactions 
found  in  this  formation  are  much  broken. 

4.  Coal 

Beds  of  coal  occur  in  the  zechstein,  and  also,  accordr 
ing  to  some  mineralogists,  in  the  alpine  limestone,  ac- 


NATURAL  HISTORY 

companied  with  slate  clay,  bituminous  slate,  and  other 
rocks,  all  of  which  frequently  contain  petrifactions  of  bi- 
valve shells,  and  impressions  of  plants.  The  shells  re- 
semble those  met  with  in  the  alpine  limestone,  and  also 
in  the  Jura  limestone ;  and  the  vegetable  impressions 
are  of  lycopodiums  and  ferns,  resembling  those  found  in 
the  old  coal  formation.  But,  besides  these,  we  observe 
remains  of  plants  of  the  palm  tribe,  some  of  which  re- 
semble the  carica  papaya,  a  native  of  Senegal. 

III.  Second  or  variegated  Sandstone  Formation. 
Third  Sandstone  Formation. 

The  second  sandstone  rests  upon  the  first  limestone  and 
gypsum,  and  also  upon  coal,^  but  the  position  of  the  third 
sandstone  has  not  been  accurately  ascertained.  The 
following  are  some  of  the  petrifactions  mentioned  by  au- 
thors as  occurring  in  them. 

Encrinites  trochitiferus.     Schlottheim.     Brunswick. 
Dentalites  striatus.     Schlottheim.     Mecklenburg. 
Trochilites  scheuchzeri.     St.  Gallen. 
Turbinites  torquatus.     Knorr.     Neufschatel. 

regensbergensis.     Knorr.     Regenberg,  near 

Blankenburg. 

australis.     Schlottheim.     France. 

Muricites  volutinus.     Bourg.  T.  34.  F.  223.     St.  Gallen. 

nisus.     Bourg.  T.  34.  F.  226.  St.  Gallen. 

assimilis,     Bourg.  T.  24.  F.  228.     St.  Gallen. 

Bullites  reticulatus.     Bourg.  T.  37.  F,  240,     St.  Gallen. 

senilis.     Bourg.  T.  87.  F.  250.  St.  Gallen. 

Pectinites  punctatus.     Volkm.  Sites,  subterr.  T.  23  F.  3. 

*  In  the  lower  parts  of  Dumfries- shire  it  rests  upon  the  coal  forma- 
tion. 


OF  PETRIFACTIONS.  225 

Pectinites  radiatus.     Id.  T.  32.  F.  6. 

reticulatus.     Id.  T.  33.  F.  1. 

longicolli.     Id.  T.  33.  F.  9. 

anomalus.     Id.  T.  34.  F.  13. 

gigas.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  F.  1.  2.     Orten- 

berg. 

polonicus.     Schlottheim.     Wieliczka. 
Chamites  transversim  punctatus.     Volkra.   Siles.  subterr. 

T.  33.  F.  7. 
Ostracites  labiatus.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  II.  &**  Fy.  2. 

Pirna. 

Anomites  paradoxus.     Scheuchz.  F.  96. 
Pinnites  diluvianus.     Knorr.     P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  X.  F,  1.  2. 

Pirna. 
Gryphites  rugosus.     Knorr.     P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  1.  d.  F.  7. 

Wieliczka. 
Muscuiites  sablonatus.     Bourg.  T.  23.  F.  142.  143. 

rugosus.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  vi.  F.  3. 

Silesia. 
Tellinites  musculitiformis.     Knorr,     P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  II. 

St.  Gallen. 
raargaritaceus.     Schlottheim.    Mecklenburg. 

IV.  Second  Floztz  Limestone,  or  Jura  Limestone. 
This  formation,  which  rests  on  the  rocks  of  the  se- 
cond sandstone  formation,  and  is  remarkable  for  the 
abundance  and  variety  of  petrifactions  it  contains,  in- 
cludes beds  of  coal,  marl,  sand-stone,  stink-stone,  and 
probably  also  of  gypsum.  The  petrifactions  occur  prin- 
cipally in  the  beds  of  marl,  sand-stone  and  stink  stone, 
arid  more  sparingly  in  the  other  strata. 

The  following  are  the  genera  of  petrifactions  that  have 
been  met  with  in  it : — Serpulites,  asterialites,  encrinites, 
echinites,  orthoceratites,  belemnites,  ammonites,  nauti- 

29 


226  NATURAL  HISTORY 

lites,  lenticulites,  helicites,  trochilites,  buccinites,  pate  I- 
lites,  chamites,  buccardites,  donacites,  venulites,  ostra- 
cites,  terebratulites,  anomites,  gryphites,  musculites,  and 
coraliiolites.  Some  varieties  contain  petrified  fishes  of 
various  genera  and  species,  and  also  fossil  amphibious 
animals.  The  vegetable  petrifactions  that  occur  in  this 
formation  are  of  stems  and  leaves,  as  those  of  the  popu- 
lus  and  rhamnus,  and  of  flowers,  as  the  ranunculus. 

V.     Third  Flcttz,  or  Shell  Limestone. 
This  formation  is  newer  than  either  the  second  lime- 
stone or  sandstone ;  and  the  following  list  contains  the 
names  of  several  of  the  petrifactions  found  in  it. 

Asteriatites  eremita.     Schlottheim.     Gotha. 
Encrinites  trochitiferus.     Blumenb.     Abbild.     F.  60. 
Pentacrinites  Gottingensis.    Heimberg,  near  Gottingen. 
Britannicus.    Blum.  Abbild.  T.  TO.  F.  a.  I. 

Dorsetshire.^ 

Echinites  ruralis.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Dentalites  obsoletus.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Bitubulites  problematicus.     Bl.  Abb.  T.  II.   F.  9. 
Belemnites  paxillosus.      Schlottheim.     Heimberg,  near 

Gottingen. 

Ammonites  nodosus.  Mus.  Tessin.  T.  4.  F.  3.  Thuringia. 
franconicus.     Knorr.     P.  II.  1.  A.  2.  F.  1. 

Koburg. 

margaritatus.     Montf.  Fol.  90.     Antwerp, 
amaltheus.    Knorr.     P.  II.  1.  T.  A.  II.  F.  3. 

France. 

planulites.     Monf.  F.  T8. 
dubius.     Bourg.  T.  39.  F.  163. 
spatosus.    List.  Anim.  Angl.  T.  6.  F.  3.  Got- 
tingen. 

*  Does  this  really  belong  to  the  shell  limestone  ? 


PETRIFACTIONS.  227 

Ammonites  pusillus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 

papiraceus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
seneus.     Bourg.  T.  40.  F.  266. 
Nautilites  pseudopompilus.     Schlottheim.     Weimar. 

rusticus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg,  near  Got- 

tingen. 
Helicites  girans.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  III.  F.  29. 

planorbiformis.    Schlottheim.  Near  Arensberg 

Thuringia. 
Helicites  pseudopomarius.     Knorr.  T.   B.  vi.  a.  F.  10. 

Quedlenburg. 

Trpchilites  speciosus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  vii.  F.  20. 
nodosus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
uiiibilicatus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
lasvis.    Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 

cutus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Neritites  spiratus.     Schlottheim.     Arensburg. 

gryphus.     Schlottheim.     Minden. 
Turbinites  strombiformis.     Naturf.  1.  S.  1.  T.  III.  F.  3. 

Palatinate. 

communis.     Schlottheim. 
socialis.     Schlottheim.     Wissbaden. 
approximatus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Strombites  Jenensis.  Know.  P.  II.  1.  T.  C.  vi.  F.  7.  Jena. 

canaliculatus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Buccinites  annulatus.     Schlottheim.     Halberstadt. 

gregarius.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Porcellanites  Seelandicus.     Schlottheim.     Zeeland. 
Patellites  Vinariensis.     Naturf.  5.  St.  T.  III.  F.  4.   Wei- 
mar. 

Discites  aequilateralis.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Chamites  laevis.     Bourg,     T.  31.  F.  120. 

auritus.     List  Anim.  Angl.  T.  9.  F.  51. 
striatus.     Bourg.  T.  25.  F.  154. 
sulcatus.     List  Anim.  Angl.  T.  9.  F.  54. 


228  NATURAL  HISTORY 

Pectinites  subreticulatus.     Schlottheim.     Teutleben.    . 
Baccardites  cordicalis.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  7.  F.  29. 

cardissaeformis.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Donacites  clausus.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Venulites  trigonatus.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Ostracites  sulcatus.  Blumenb.  Spec.  Arch.  Tel.  T.  1.  F.  3. 
plicatus.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  i.  F.  1—4. 
pusilius.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  viii.  F.  8. 
pyramidans.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  iv.  F.  1. 
spondyloides.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Terebratulites  communis.   Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B,  iv.  F.  2. 
giganteus.     Blumenb.     Abb.  T.  i.  F.  4. 

Osnabruck. 

regularis.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  v.  F.  23. 
oblongus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  v.  F.  24. 
squamiger.     Oryct.  Nor.' T.  v.  F.  19. 
artifex.    Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  iv.  F.  7.  8. 
sustarcinatus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  vii.  F.  35. 
subhistericus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  vii.  F.  37. 
parasiticus.     Schlottheim.     Tonna, 
fragilis.     Schlottheim.     Herda. 
bicanaliculatus.     Schlottheim.     Tonna. 
Trigonellites  pes  anseris.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  II.  6. 

F.  8.     Thuringia. 

communis.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  II.  b. 
simplex.     Schlottheim.     Sachsenberg. 
Anomites  obsoletus.     Schlottheim.     Lohberg. 
Solennites  annulatus.      Oryct.   Nor.   T.  iv.  F.   12.  13. 

Winkelheid. 
Gryphites. 

Ratisbonensis.    Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  III.  c. 

F.  1.  3. 

suillus.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
laevis.     Schlottheim.     Heimberg. 
Musculites  gibbosus.    Oryct.  Nor.  T-  vii.  F.  25, 


OF  PETRIFACTIONS.  229 

Musculites  coraprimatus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  vii.  F.  23. 

mytiloides.     Oryct.  Nor.  iv.  F.  2. 
Pholadites  caudatus.     Halberstadt. 
Mytilites  sociatus.     Thuringia. 

costatus.     Lohberg,  near  Tonna. 
Tellinites  paganus.     Oryct.  Nor.  T.  vii.  F.  26.  27. 
comprimatus.     Sachsenburg. 
minutus.     Schlottheim.     Sachsenburg. 
Balanites  porosus.     Blumenb.  Abb.  T.  i.  F.  1.     Near 

Osnabruck. 

parasiticus.     Lohberg.     Tonna. 
Trilobites  cornigerus.     Schlottheim.     Near  Reval. 

Fossil  remains  of  fishes,  and,  it  is  said,  also  of  birds, 
have  been  found  in  this  formation. 

VI.     Chalk  Formation. 

This,  which  is  one  of  the  newest  of  the  floetz  lime- 
stones, contains  many  different  petrifactions,  as  will  ap- 
pear from  the  following  enumeration. 

Serpulites  contortuplicatus.     Mont.  P.  II.  p.  25.  Peters- 
berg. 

peniformis.     Schlottheim.     Petersberg. 

exuviatus.     Schlottheim.     Island  Rugen. 
Osteriatites  siderolites.    Mont.  P.  1.  p.  150.   Petersberg. 
Asteriatites  spinosus.     Schlottheim.     Petersberg. 

pentagonatus.     Schlottheim.     Petersberg. 
Echinites  poundianus.     Schlottheim.     Kent. 

varians.    Bourg.  T.  li.  F.  337—339. 

anomalus.     List.  Anim.  Angl.  T.  vii.  F.  25. 

melitensis.     List.  Anim.  Angl.  T.  xxvii. 

cordiformis.     List.  Anim.  Angl.  T.  vii.  F.  28, 

Breynianus.     Breyn.  Opusel.  T.  iv.  F.  1.2. 

fenestratus.     Knorr.  T.  E,  7.  a.  T.  iii. 


2:50  NATURAL    HISTORY 

Echinites  canaliculatus.    Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  E.  iv.  F.  1.  2. 
ursinus.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  E.  1.  a.  F.  4. 
hexagonatus.    Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  E.  V.  F.  12. 
cruciatus.     Knor.  Suppl.  T.  ix.  d.  F.  3. 
sideralis.    Naturf.  9  St.  T.  iv.  F.  7.  Petersberg. 
echinometrites.     Bourg.  T.  liii.  F.  361. 
Dentalites  minutus.     Schlottheim.    Island  Moen. 
Orthoceratites  gigsa.     Knorr.  Suppl.  T.  xii.  F.  1 — 5. 
Telebois  annulatus.    Montf.  P.  1.  p.  366.  Island  of  Goth- 
land. 

Baculites  vertibralis.     Montf.  P.  I.  p.  343. 
Belemnites  reticulatus.     Montf.  P.  I.  p.  379.     St.  Cathe- 
rine. 

pyrgopolon  mosas.     Montf.  P.  I.  p.  394. 
mucronatus.    Breyn.  opuscl.    Tabula  Belem- 

nit.  T.I.  a.  2.  b.  Faujas. 
paxillosus.     Montf.  P.  I.  p.  3,52. 
lanceolatus.     Breyn.  Tab.  Bel.  F.  7.  a. 
Ammonites  mammillatus.     Naturf.  1.  St.  T.  II.  F.  3. 

elipsolites  funatus.     Montf.  P.  I.  p.  86.     St. 

Catherine. 

Nautilites  pseudopompilius.  Fatij.  Petersberg.  T.  xxi.  F.  1 , 
puppis.     Fauj.  T.  xxv.  F.  9.     Petersfoerg. 
pulcher.     Fauj.  T.  xx.  F.  3.     Petersberg. 
Srombites  globulatus.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  C.  vii. 
Buccinites  Belgicus.     Petersberg. 

Muricites  turrilitis  costatus.  Montf.  P.  I.  118.  Rouen. 
Volutites  coniformis.  Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  C.  ii.*  F.  6.  7. 
Patellites  acutus.  Fauj.  T.  xxv.  F.  1.  Petersberg. 

mitratus.    Knorr.  P.  II.  ii.  T.  N.  F.  3.     Meck- 
lenburg, 
melitensis.     Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  B.  1.  c.  F.  5.  6. 

Suppl.  T.  v.  c.  F.  6. 

regularis.    Fauj.  T.  T.  xxiii.  F.  2.    Petersberg. 
irregularis.     Fauj.  T.  xxiii.  F.  3.     Petersberg, 


OF   PETRfFACTIONS.  231 

Ostracites  mysticus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  5.     Petersberg. 
ungulatus.    Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  vii.  F.  5.  6. 

Petersberg. 

crista  urogalli.  Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  vii.  F.  3. 6. 
laurifolium.  Knorr.  P.  II.  1.  T.  D.  vii.  F.  1.  2. 
plicatissimus.  Naturf.  9.  St.  T.  iv.  F.  6.  a— b. 

Kent. 

approximate.    Fauj.  T.  xxiii.  F.  5.  Petersberg. 
crista  meleagris.     Fauj.  T.   xxiii.  F.   6.     Pe- 
tersberg. 

haliotiformis.   Fauj.  T.  xxiii.  F.  4.    Petersberg. 
mactroides.     Schlottheim.     Champagne. 
Terebratulites  communis.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  5.    Peters- 
berg. 

scaphula.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  8. 
chrysalis.     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  7.  &  9, 
varians,     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  1. 
microscopicus.     Fauj.  T-  xxvi.  F.  2. 
limbatus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  4. 
chitoniformis.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  6. 
peltatus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  11. 
plicatellus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  10. 
vermicularis.     Fauj.  T.  xxvi.  F.  12- 
pectiniformis.     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  5- 
tenuissimus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  7. 
concavus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  6. 
papillatus.     Fauj.  T.  xxvii.  F.  8. 
gracilis.     Schlottheim.     Kent. 
Pinnites  cretaceus.    Fauj.  T.  xxii.  F.  1.  &  3. 
Gryphites  politus.     Schlottheim.     Island  Moen. 
Tellinites  asserculatus.     Knorr.   Suppl.   T.   v.   c.  F.  2. 

Mecklenburg. 

Besides  these  petrifactions,  the  following  are  enume- 
rated by  authors  as  occurring  in  chalk :  spondylites,  pec- 


232  NATURAL   HISTORi 

tinites,  chamites,  teeth  and  bones  of  fish,  also  fish  much 
mutilated,  tortoises,  crabs,  alcyonites,  madreporites,  spon- 
gites,  and  encrinites.* 

VII.     Flcetz  Trap  Rocks. 

These  rocks  occur  in  several  of  the  floetz  formations 
already  mentioned,  either  as  subordinate  beds,  or  in 
mountain  masses.  In  the  red  sandstone  formations  they 
occur  in  beds,  veins,  and  mountain  masses,  and  appear 
in  single  hills,  as  Salisbury  Craig,  near  Edinburgh,  or  in 
ranges  of  hills,  as  the  Pentlands  and  Ochils,  also  near 
Edinburgh.  The  only  rock  of  the  series  which  contains 
petrifactions  is  the  trap-tuff,  which  includes  a  few  vege- 
table impressions. 

Flo3tz  trap  rocks  also  occur  in  the  floetz  limestone  for- 
mation, either  in  beds  or  mountain  masses;  and  some- 
times we  meet  with  whole  ranges  of  such  hills  belonging 
to  the  floetz  limestone.  I  do  not  know  that  petrifactions 
have  ever  been  found  in  the  trap  of  these  formations. 

The  Coal  Formation,  which  forms  a  great  tract  of 
country  on  both  sides  of  the  Frith  of  Forth,  contains 
beds  and  veins  of  floetz  trap  rocks.  The  only  trap  rock 
of  this  series  which  contains  petrifactions  is  the  trap- 
tuff,  and  it  very  rarely  presents  a  few  vegetable  impres- 
sions. 

VIII.     Newest  Flcetz  Trap. 

The  newest  floetz  trap  formation  of  Werner,  which  is 
of  a  very  late  date,  contains  very  few  petrifactions. 

*  I  enumerate  in  this  list  the  petrifactions  discovered  by  Faujas  St. 
Fond  in  the  Petersberg,  near  Msestrich,  as  it  is  the  opinion  of  some 
naturalists  that  it  belongs  to  the  chalk  formation. 


OF  PETRIFACTIONS.  233 

From  the  short  account  now  given,  it  appears,  that  the 
floetz  trap-rocks,  in  whatever  situation  they  occur,  con- 
lain  very  few  organic  remains.* 

IX.     Newest  Flcetz  Formations. 

Over  the  chalk  rests  a  series  of  calcarious  and  siliceous 
formations,  which,  in  general,  abound  in  petrifactions. 
They  appear  to  have  been  deposited  from  the  water  of 
lakes  or  inland  seas,  some  of  which  are  conjectured  to 
have  been  alternately  filled  with  fresh  and  salt  water ;  and 
hence,  in  a  general  view,  are  of  a  more  local  nature  than 
those  which  have  been  deposited  from  the  waters  of  the 
ocean.  The  newest  members  of  the  series  are  of  so 
loose  a  texture,  the  fossil  organic  remains  they  contain 
so  nearly  resemble  those  that  now  inhabit  the  earth,  and 
they  are  so  nearly  related  to  the  alluvial  formations  which 
are  daily  forming,  that  it  is  often  extremely  difficult,  nay 
even  sometimes  impossible,  to  determine  whether  they 
belong  to  the  alluvial  or  newest  floetz  formation.  There 
appears  to  be  a  gradation  or  transition  from  the  one  into 
the  other.  The  petrifactions  they  contain  are  of  zoo- 
phytes, shells,  fishes,  and  amphibious  animals  ;  and  fossil 
remains  of  birds  and  quadrupeds  here  for  the  first  time 
appear  enclosed  in  strata.  The  country  around  Paris, 
that  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  other  districts  in  the  south 
of  England,  as  particularly  described  in  Note  K  (B),  be- 
long to  these  newer  formations. 

X.     diluvial  Formations. 

The  mineral  substances  included  under  this  class  are 
considered  to  be  of  newer  formation  than  any  of  the 
iloctz  rocks ;  and  the  following  are  the  most  frequent  and 


*  This  is  the  formation  considered  by  many  geologists  as  entirely  of 
volcanic  origin. 

30 


234  NATURAL 

abundant  of  these,  viz.  gravel,  sand,  clay,  loam,  marl, 
ealc-tufT,  calc-sinter,  brown  coal,  and  peat. 

Petrifactions  frequently  occur  distributed  through 
these  deposites  either  in  a  regular  or  irregular  manner, 
and  are  sometimes  whole,  sometimes  more  or  less  broken, 
but  angular,  or  are  so  much  rounded  as  to  show  that 
they  have  suffered  by  attrition.  Several  different  allu- 
vial formations  may  be  pointed  out,  which  are  charac- 
terized by  the  organic  remains  they  contain.  Thus,  one 
formation  found  in  this  neighbourhood  contains  shells 
of  the  common  oyster,  common  muscle,  patella  vulgaris, 
4}ucinura  undatum  and  lapillus,  nerita  littoralis,  and  turbo 
Jittoreus,  all  of  which  are  still  inhabitants  of  the  Frith  of 
Forth.  Another  contains  bones  of  ruminating  animals, 
as  those  of  the  horse,  ox,  and  stag,  but  differing  from 
those  of  the  living  species ;  and  in  a  third,  which  con- 
tains such  marl  and  many  fresh-water  shells,  there  occur 
the  bones  of  several  extinct  species  of  the  elephantr  rhi- 
noceros, hippopotamus,  and  also  of  the  Irish  elk,  which 
is  no  longer  a  native  of  this  country.* 
I'V-'wYjWa,,? .  ?,.  .  ^•:^<i:.'.  <6;>4<T* 

From  the  preceding  short  sketch  it  appears,  that  the 
most  simple  animals  are  those  we  first  meet  with  in  a 
mineralized  state ;  that  these  are  succeeded  by  others 
more  perfect,  and  which  are  contained  in  newer  forma- 
tions ;  and  that  the  most  perfect,  as  quadrupeds,  occur 
only  in  the  newest  formations.  But  we  naturally  inquire, 
have  no  remains  of  the  human  species  been  hitherto  dis- 
covered iw  any  of  the  formations  ?  Judging  from  the  ar- 
rangement already  mentioned,  we  would  naturally  ex- 
pect to  meet  with  remains  of  man  in  the  newest  of  the  for- 
mations. In  the  writings  of  ancient  authors,  there  are 

*  This  latter  formation  has  been  lately  discovered  in  Ayrshire, 


Of  PETRIFACTIONS*  23$ 

descriptions  of  anthropolithi.  In  the  year  1577,  Fel. 
Plater,  Professor  of  Anatomy  at  Basil,  described  several 
fossil  bones  of  the  elephant  found  at  Lucerne,  as  those 
of  a  giant  at  least  nineteen  feet  high.  The  Lucernese 
were  so  perfectly  satisfied  with  this  discovery,  that  they 
caused  a  painting  to  be  made  of  the  giant  as  he  must 
have  appeared  when  alive,  assumed  two  such  giants  as 
the  supporters  of  the  city  arms,  and  had  the  painting 
hung  in  their  public  hall.  The  Landvoigt  Engel,  not 
satisfied  with  this  account  of  these  remains,  maintained 
that  our  planet,  before  the  creation  of  the  present  race 
of  men,  was  inhabited  by  the  fallen  angels,  and  that  these 
bones  were  parts  of  the  skeletons  of  some  of  those  mise- 
rable beings.  Scheuchzer  published  an  engraving  and 
description  of  a  fossil  human  skeleton,  which  proved  to 
be  a  gigantic  species  of  salamander  or  proteus.  Spal- 
lanzani  describes  a  hill  of  fossil  human  bones  in  the 
island  of  Cerigo ;  but  this  also  is  an  error,  as  has  been 
satisfactorily  shown  by  Blumenbach.  Lately,  however, 
a  fossil  human  skeleton  has  been  imported  into  this  coun- 
try from  Gaudaloupe  by  Sir  Alexander  Cochrane.  It  is 
imbedded  in  a  block  of  calcarious  stone,  composed  of 
particles  of  limestone  and  coral,  and  which,  like  the  ag- 
gregations of  shells  found  on  the  limestone  coasts  in  some 
parts  of  this  country,  has  acquired  a  great  degree  of  hard- 
ness. It  is  therefore  an  instance  of  a  fossil  human  petri- 
factibn  in  an  alluvial  formation.  The  engraving  here 
given  is  copied  from  the  Philosophical  Transactions  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  London ;  and  the  following  de- 
scription of  the  fossil  remains  it  exhibits  is  that  of  Mr. 
Konig,  which  has  been  drawn  up  with  great  care. 

"  The  situation  of  the  skeleton  in  the  block  was  so  su- 
perficial, that  its  presence  in  the  rock  on  the  coast  had 


236 


NATURAL  HISTORY 


probably  been  indicated  by  the  projection  of  some  of  the 
more  elevated  parts  of  the  left  fore-arm. 

"  The  operation  of  laying  the  bones  open  to  view,  and 
of  reducing  the  superfluous  length  of  the  block  at  its  ex- 
tremities, being  performed  with  all  the  care  which  its 
excessive  hardness  and  the  relative  softness  of  the  bones 
required,  the  skeleton  exhibited  itself  in  the  manner  re- 
presented in  the  annexed  drawing  (Pi.  I.),  with  which 
my  friend  Mr.  Alexander  has  been  so  good  as  to  illustrate 
this  description. 

"The  skull  is  wanting;  a  circumstance  which  is  the 
more  to  be  regretted,  as  this  characteristic  part  might 
possibly  have  thrown  some  light  on  the  subject  under 
consideration,  or  would,  at  least,  have  settled  the  ques- 
tion, whether  the  skeleton  is  that  of  a  Carib,  who  used  to 
give  the  frontal  bone  of  the  head  a  particular  shape  by 
compression,  which  had  the  effect  of  depressing  the  up- 
per and  protruding  the  lower  edge  of  the  orbits,  so  as  to 
make  the  direction  of  their  opening  nearly  upwards,  or 
horizontal,  instead  of  vertical.* 

"  The  vertebras  of  the  neck  were  lost  with  the  head. 
The  bones  of  the  thorax  bear  all  the  marks  of  considera- 
ble concussion,  and  are  completely  dislocated.  The 
seven  true  ribs  of  the  left  side,  though  their  heads  are  not 
in  connexion  with  the  vertebrae,  are  complete  ;  but  only 
three  of  the  false  ribs  are  observable.  On  the  right  side 
only  fragments  of  these  bones  are  seen  ;  but  the  upper 
part  of  the  seven  true  ribs  of  this  side  are  found  on  the 
left,  and  might  at  first  sight  be  taken  for  the  termination 
of  the  left  ribs ;  as  may  be  seen  in  the  drawing.  The 

*  See  the  excellent  figures  in  Bluraenbach's  Decades. 


OF  PETRIFACTIONS. 

right  ribs  rnust  therefore  have  been  violently  broken  and 
carried  over  to  the  left  side,  where,  if  this  mode  of  view- 
ing the  subject  be  correct,  the  sternum  must  likewise  lie 
concealed  below  the  termination  of  the  ribs.  The  small 
bone  dependent  above  the  upper  ribs  of  the  left  side,  ap- 
pears to  be  the  right  clavicle.  The  right  os  humeri  is 
lost;  of  the  left  nothing  remains  except  the  condyles  in 
connexion  with  the  fore-arm,  which  is  in  the  state  of  pro- 
nation  ;  the  radius  of  this  side  exists  nearly  in  its  full 
length,  while  of  the  ulna  the  lower  part  only  remains, 
which  is  considerably  pushed  upwards.  Of  the  two 
bones  of  the  right  fore-arm,  the  inferior  terminations  are 
seen.  Both  the  rows  of  the  bones  of  the  wrists  are  lost, 
but  the  whole  metacarpus  of  the  left  hand  is  displayed, 
together  with  part  of  the  bones  of  the  fingers  :  the  first 
joint  of  the  fore-finger  rests  on  the  upper  ridge  of  the  os 
pubis;  the  two  others,  detached  from  their  metacarpal 
bones,  are  propelled  downwards,  and  situated  at  the  in- 
ner side  of  the  femur,  and  below  the  foramen  magnum 
ischii  of  this  side.  Vestiges  of  three  of  the  fingers  of  the 
right  hand  are  likewise  visible,  considerably  below  the 
lower  portion  of  the  fore-arm,  and  close  to  the  upper  ex- 
tremity of  the  femur.  The  vertebrae  may  be  traced  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  column,  but  are  in  no  part  of  it 
well  defined.  Of  the  os  sacrum,  the  superior  portion 
only  is  distinct ;  it  is  disunited  from  the  last  vertebra  and 
the  ilium,  and  driven  upwards.  The  left  os  ilium  is  near- 
ly complete,  but  shattered,  and  one  of  the  fragments  de- 
pressed below  the  level  of  the  rest;  the  ossa  pubis, 
though  well  defined,  are  gradually  lost  in  the  mass  of  the 
stone.  On  the  right  side,  the  os  innominatum  is  complete- 
ly shattered,  and  the  fragments  are  sunk ;  but  towards 
the  acetabulum,  part  of  its  internal  cellular  structure  is 
discernible. 


238  NATURAL  HISTORY,  &C. 

The  thigh  bones  and  the  bones  of  the  leg  of  the  right 
side  are  in  good  preservation,  but  being  considerably 
turned  outwards,  the  fibula  lies  buried  in  the  stone,  and 
is  not  seen.  The  lower  part  of  the  femur  of  this  side  i.< 
indicated  only  by  a  bony  outline,  and  appears  to  have 
been  distended  by  the  compact  limestone  that  fills  the 
cavities  both  of  the  bones  of  the  leg  and  thigh,  and  to  the 
expansion  of  which  these  bones  probably  owe  their  pre- 
sent shattered  condition.  The  lower  end  of  the  left 
thigh  bone  appears  to  have  been  broken  and  lost  in  the 
operation  of  detaching  the  block ;  the  two  bones  of  the 
leg,  however,  on  this  side,  are  nearly  complete  ;  the  ti- 
bia was  split  almost  the  whole  of  its  length  a  little  below 
the  external  edge,  and  the  fissure  being  filled  up  with 
limestone,  now  presents  itself  as  a  dark-coloured  straight 
line.  The  portion  of  the  stone  which  contained  part  of 
the  bones  of  tarsus  and  metatarsus,  was  unfortunately 
broken ;  but  the  separate  fragments  are  preserved. 

"  The  whole  of  the  bones,  when  first  laid  bare,  had  a 
mouldering  appearance,  and  the  hard  surrounding  stone 
could  not  be  detached  without  frequently  injuring  their 
surface  ;  but  after  an  exposure  for  some  days  to  the  air, 
they  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of  hardness.  Sir  H. 
Davy,  who  subjected  a  small  portion  of  them  to  chemi- 
cal analysis,  found  that  they  contained  part  of  their  ani- 
mal matter,  and  all  their  phosphate  of  lime." 

NOTE  M.   (A)  §28.  109. 

'•\  ,;,  Cu-vie^s  Geological  Discoveries. 

As  the  Essay  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth  does  not  con^ 
tain  a  full  account  of  the  numerous  geological  discove- 
ries and  observations  of  Professor  Cuvier,  we  shall  lay 
before  our  readers  a  condensed  view  of  the  most  import- 


MINERALOGY  OF  PARIS.  239, 

ant  of  these,  drawn  up  chiefly  from  his  great  work  on  the 
Fossil  Remains  of  Quadrupeds. 

Mineralogy  of  Paris. 

In  order  to  enable  the  reader  to  understand  the  va- 
rious details  in  regard  to  the  fossil  remains  discovered 
by  Cuvicr,  we  shall  premise  a  short  description  of  the  mi- 
neralogy of  Paris,  as  many  of  them  were  dug  up  in  that 
neighbourhood.  Chalk,  which  is  the  fundamental  rock 
of  the  district,  is  covered  with  plastic  clay,  and  what  is 
termed  coarse  marine  limestone.  The  limestone  abounds 
in  marine  petrifactions,  and  is  associated  with  a  kind  of 
siliceous  limestone,  which  contains  the  well-known  mine- 
ral in  the  arts,  used  as  a  millstone,  and  named  tiuhrstone. 
Over  this  limestone  rests  a  remarkable  formation  of  gyp- 
sum. It  alternates  with  beds  of  marl,  containing  menilite, 
and  beds  of  clay,  with  imbedded  lenticular  crystals  of 
jrypsum.  The  gypsum  contains  remains  of  extinct  qua- 
drupeds, birds,  amphibious  animals,  fishes,  and  shells,  ail 
of  which  are  said  to  be  land  or  fresh  water  species ;  hence 
it  is  denominated  afresh  water  formation.  Above  this  gyp- 
sum lie  beds  of  marl  and  sandstone  that  contain  marine 
shells,  thus  affording  another  marine  formation.  These 
rocks  are  covered  with  beds  of  millstone,  limestone  and 
flint,  both  of  which  contain  petrifactions  of  fresh  water 
shells  ;  hence  this  association  is  named  the  second  fresh  wa- 
ter formation.  The  uppermost  formation  is  of  an  alluvial 
nature.  It  is  composed  of  variously  coloured  sand,  marl, 
clay,  or  a  mixture  of  these  substances  impregnated  with 
carbon,  which  gives  the  mixture  a  brown  or  black  colour* 
It  contains  rolled  stones  of  different  kinds,  but  is  most 
particularly  characterized  by  containing  the  remains  of 
large  organic  bodies.  It  is  in  this  formation  that  we  find 
great  trunks  of  trees,  bones  of  elephants,  also  of  oxen, 
rein-deer,  ai\d  other  mammalia.  From  the  intermixture 


FOSSIL    CAV1A,    MLS,    &C. 

of  fresh  and  salt  water  organic  productions  in  these  for* 
mations,  we  may  suppose  that  both  these  fluids  must  have 
contributed  each  their  part  in  their  formation.  Accord- 
ing to  Cuvier,  and  Brongniart,  who  assisted  him  in  exa- 
mining these  formations  we  have  just  enumerated,  there 
appears  to  have  been  an  alternate  flux  and  reflux  of  salt 
and  freshwater  over  the  country  around  Paris,  and  from 
which  these  rocks  were  deposited.  This  opinion,  how- 
ever, is  liable  to  numerous  objections. — 


Fossil  Organic  Remains  described  by  CUVIER,  arranged  in  a 
Systematic  Order* 


CLASS.— MAMMALIA. 

ORDER DIGITATA. 

FAMILY.     GLIRES. 

Cavia. 

In  the  quarries  of  slaty  limestone  of  Aeningen  there  oc- 
cur remains  of  a  species  of  this  genus  which  Cuvier  con- 
jectures to  belong  to  the  cavia  porcellus  or  Guinea  pig, 
or  more  likely  to  an  unknown  species  either  of  this  tribe 
or  of  that  entitled  arvicola. 

Mus. 

In  the  slaty  limestone  rocks  at  Walsch,  in  the  circle  of 
Saatz  in  Bohemia,  there  are  fossil  remains  of  a  species  of 
this  tribe  very  nearly  allied  to  the  mus  terrestriB. 


FOSSIL    BEAR*  241 

FAMILY. 


Ursus.     Bear. 

1.  U.  Spelcsus.  —  The  size  of  a  horse,  and  different  from 
any  of  the  present  existing  species. 

2.  U.  rfrctoideus.  —  Is  a  smaller  species,  and  appears  al- 
so to  be  extinct.     Both  species  are  fossil,  and  remains  of 
them  are  found  in  great  abundance  in  limestone  caves  in 
Germany  and  Hungary.   These  caves  vary  much  in  mag- 
nitude and  form,  and  are  more  or  less  deeply  incrusted 
with  calcarious  sinter,  which  assumes  a  great  variety  of 
singular  and  often  beautiful  forms.  The  bones  occur  nearly 
in  the  same  state  in  all  these  caves  :   detached,  broken, 
but  never  rolled,  and  consequently  have  not  been  brought 
from  a  distance  by  the  agency  of  water  :  they  are  some- 
what lighter,  and  less  compact  than  recent  bones,  but 
slightly  decomposed  contain  much  gelatine,  and  are  never 
mineralized.     They  are  generally  enveloped  in  an  indu- 
rated earth,  which  contains  animal  matter  ;  sometimes  in 
a  kind  of  alabaster  or  calcarious  sinter,  and  by  means  of 
this  mineral  are  sometimes  attached  to  the  walls  of  caves. 
These  bones  are  t,he  same  in  all  the  caves  hitherto  exa- 
mined ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  they  occur  in  an 
extent  of  upwards  of  200  leagues. 

Esper,  who  examined  and  described  the  caves  of  Gay- 
lenreuth,  on  the  frontiers  of  Bayreuth,  informs  us,  that 
after  passing  through  a  succession  of  caves,  he  at  length 
came  to  a  narrow  passage,  which  led  into  a  small  cave, 
eight  feet  high  and  wide,  which  is  the  passage  into  a  grot- 
to twenty-eight  feet  high,  and  about  forty-three  feet  long 
and  wide.  Here  the  prodigious  quantity  of  animal  earth, 
the  vast  number  of  teeth,  jaws,  and  other  bones,  and  the* 
heavy  grouping  of  the  stalactites,  produced  so  dismal  an 


242  FOSSIL    BEAR. 

appearance,  as  to  lead  Esper  to  speak  of  it  as  a  fit  temple 
for  a  god  of  the  dead.  Here  hundreds  of  cart-loads  of 
bony  remains  might  be  removed,  bags  might  be  filled 
with  fossil  teeth,  and  animal  earth  was  found  to  reach  to 
the  utmost  depth  to  which  they  dug.  A  piece  of  stalac- 
tite being  here  broken  down,  was  found  to  contain  pieces 
of  bones  within  it. 

Cuvier  estimates,  that  rather  more  than  three-fourths  of 
these  bones  belong  to  species  of  bears  now  extinct ;  one- 
half,  or  two-thirds,  of  the  remaining  fourth  belong  to  a 
species  of  hyaena,  which  occurs  in  a  fossil  state  in  other 
situations.  A  very  small  number  of  these  remains  belong 
to  a  species  of  the  genus  Honor  tiger ;  and  another  to  ani- 
mals of  the  dog  or  wolf  kinds ;  and  lastly,  the  smallest 
portion  belongs  to  different  species  of  smaller  carnivo- 
rous animals,  as  the  fox  and  pole-cat.  We  do  not  find  in 
these  caves  any  remains  of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  horse, 
buffalo,  or  tapir,  which  occur  so  commonly  in  alluvial 
soil ;  and  the  palaeotheria  of  the  flostz  strata,  the  ruminat- 
ing animals,  and  the  gnawers,  of  the  rock  of  Gibraltar, 
Dalmatia,  and  Cette,  are  never  met  with.  Nor  do  we 
ever  find  the  bears  and  tigers  of  these  caves  in  alluvial 
soil,  or  in  the  fissures  of  rocks.  The  only  one  of  the  spe- 
cies found  in  these  caves,  and  which  is  found  elsewhere 
in  other  formations,  is  the  hyaena,  which  occurs  also  in 
alluvial  strata.  It  is  quite  evident  that  these  bones  could 
not  have  been  introduced  into  these  caves  by  the  action 
of  water,  because  the  smallest  processes,  or  inequalities, 
on  their  surface  are  preserved.  Cuvier  is  therefore  in- 
clined to  conjecture,  that  the  animals  to  which  they  be- 
longed must  have  lived  and  died  peaceably  on  the  spot 
where  we  now  find  them.  This  opinion  is  rendered 
highly  probable  from  the  nature  of  the  earthy  matter  in 
which  they  are  enveloped,  and  which,  according  to 


FOSSIL    DOG,    CAT,    AND    WEASEL.  243 

Laugier,  contains  an  intermixture  of  animal  matter  with 
phosphate  of  lime,  and  probably  also  phosphate  of  iron. 

Canis.     Dag. 

Of  this  genus  several  species  are  described  as  occurring 
in  the  caves  already  mentioned  ;  one  species  very  closer 
ly  resembles  the  Cape  hycsna,  and  is  about  the  size  of  a 
small  brown  bear ;  another  species  is  allied  to  the  dog  or 
wolf;  and  a  third  species  is  almost  identical  with  the  com- 
mon fox.*  A  fossil  species  also  resembling  the  common 
fox  has  been  found  in  the  gypsum  quarries  near  Paris  ; 
and  in  the  same  formation  there  are  fossil  remains  of  a  ge- 
nus intermediate  between  canis  and  viverra.  In  the  allu- 
vial deposites  there  are  remains  of  the  hycena. 

Felis.     Cat. 

One  species  of  this  tribe  occurs  in  the  limestone  caves, 
and  appears  to  be  nearly  allied  to  the  iaguar ;  another 
species,  nearly  allied  to  the  tiger,  is  found  in  alluvial  soil 
along  with  fossil  remains  of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros, 
hyaena,  and  mastodon. 

Viverra.     Weasel. 

Two  species  of  this  genus  occur  in  the  limestone  caves ; 
the  one  is  allied  to  the  common  pole  cat,  a,nd  the  other  to 
the  zorille,  a  pole  cat  belonging  to  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  Another  species  allied  to  the  ichneumon,  but 
double  its  size,  occurs  in  the  gypsum  quarries  around 
Paris. 


*  Blumenbach  has  lately  described  the  remains  of  a  fossil  hyaena, 
nearly  resembling  the  canis  crocuta,  which  was  found  in  marl  along 
with  remains  of  the  lion  and  the  elephant,  between  Osterode  and 
Herzberg  in  Hanover, 


244  FOSSIL  SLOTtf. 


FAMILY.     BKUTA. 

Bradypus.     Sloth. 

There  are  but  two  living  species  of  the  sloth  tribe,  the 
ai,  or  bradypus  tridactylus;  and  the  unau,  or  bradypus 
didactylus.  Cuvier  describes  two  fossil  species  which  are 
nearly  allied  not  only  to  these  species,  but  also  to  the 
myrmecophaga  or  ant-eater.  The  following  are  the  two 
fossil  species : — 

1.  Megalonix.  It  is  the  size  of  an  ox,  and  its  bones 
were  first  discovered  in  limestone  caves  in  Virginia  ift 
the  year  J796.  2.  Megatherium.  This  species  is  the 
size  of  the  rhinoceros,  and  its  fossil  remains  have  hither- 
to been  found  only  in  South  America.  .  The  first,  and 
most  complete  skeleton,  was  sent  from  Buenos  Ayres  by 
the  Marquis  Loretto,  in  the  year  1789.  It  was  found  in 
digging  an  alluvial  soil,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Luxan, 
a  league  south-east  of  the  village  of  that  name,  about 
three  leagues  W.  S.  W.  of  Buenos  Ayres.  Plate  3d  gives 
a  faithful  representation  of  this  remarkable  skeleton, 
which  is  now  preserved  in  the  Royal  Cabinet  of  Ma- 
drid. A  second  skeleton  of  the  same  animal  was  sent  to 
Madrid  from  Lima,  in  the  year  1795;  and  a  third  was 
found  in  Paraguay.  Thus  it  appears,  that  the  remains 
of  this  animal  exists  in  the  most  distant  parts  of  South 
America.  It  Is  very  closely  allied  to  the  megalonix,  and 
differs  from  it  principally  in  size,  being  much  larger. 
Cnvier  is  of  opinion,  that  the  two  species,  the  megalonix 
and  megatherium,  may  be  placed  together,  as  members 
qf  the  same  genus,  and  should  be  placed  between  the 
sloths  and  ant-eaters,  but  nearer  to  the  former  than  to 
the  latter.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  reniains  of 
these  animals  have  not  been  hitherto  found  in  any  pther 


FOSSIL    DIDELPHIS,    HORSE    AND   DEER.  245 

quarter  of  the  globe  besides  America,  the  only  Country 
whicfr  affords  sloths  and  ant-eaters. 


ORDER.— MARSUPIALIA. 

Didelphis. 

One  species  of  this  extraordinary  tribe  of  animals  has 
been  found  in  a  fossil  state  in  the  gypsum  quarries  near 
Paris.  It  does  not  belong  to  any  of  the  present  exist- 
ing species,  and  is  therefore  considered  as  extinct.  Cu- 
vier  remarks,  that  as  all  the  species  of  this  genus  are  na- 
tives of  America,  it  is  evident  that  the  hypothesis  ad- 
vanced by  some  naturalists,  of  all  the  fossil  organic  re- 
mains of  quadrupeds  having  been  flooded  from  Asia  to 
northern  countries,  is  erroneous. 


ORDER.— SOLIDUNGULA. 

Equus.     Horse. 
Equus.     Caballus  ? 

Fossil  remains  of  a  species  of  horse  are  found  in  allu- 
vial soil  associated  with  those  of  the  elephant,  rhinoceros, 
tiyasna,  mastodon  and  tiger  ?  Cuvier  confesses  that  he 
is  not  in  possession  of  any  means  of  ascertaining  the  spe- 
cies of  horse  to  which  they  belong ;  it  is  conjectured 
that  they  may  belong  to  the  equus  cabal  1  us,  the  com- 
mon horse. 


ORDER.— BISULCA. 

Cervus.     Deer, 
1.  Fossil  Elk  of  Ireland.— This  is  the  most  celebrated 


246  FOSSIL    ELK    OP    IRELAND 

of  all  the  fossil  ruminating  animals.  It  is  most  certain- 
ly a  different  species  from  any  of  those  that  at  present 
live  on  the  earth's  surface,  and  may  therefore  be  con- 
sidered as  extinct.  It  was  first  found  in  Ireland,  where 
it  generally  occurs  in  shell  marl  and  in  peat  bogs.  It  has 
also  been  found  in  superficial  alluvial  soil  in  England, 
Germany,  and  France. 

In  Plate  II.  we  have  given  a  drawing  of  the  head  and 
horns  of  this  animal.  It  was  dug  out  of  a  marl-pit  at 
Dardistoun,  near  Drogheda,  in  Ireland.  Dr.  Molyneux, 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  informs  us  that  its  di- 
mensions were  as  follows : — 

Feet.  Inches, 

From  the  extreme  tip  of  each  horn,      -    a.  b.     1010 

From  the  tip  of  the  right  horn  to  its 

root,  -     c.  d.       52 

From  the  tip  of  one  of  the  inner  branches 

to  the  tip  of  the  opposite  branch,        -     e.  f.       3     7% 

The  length  of  one  of  the  palms,  within 
the  branches,  -  -  g.  h.  2  6 

The  breadth    of  the  palm,    within  the 

branches,  -      i.  k.       1   10J 

The  length  of  the  right  brow  antler,      -     d.  1.      12 

The  beam  of  each  horn,  at  some  distance 
from  the  head,  in  diameter,  -  m.  0  2{s 

in  circumference,         -      0    8 

The  beam  of  each  horn,  at  its  root,  in 
circumference,  -  d.  0  11 

The  length  of  the  head,  from  the  back 
of  the  skull  to  the  extremity  ofthe  up- 
per jaw,  r  •  "  -  n.  o.  2  0 

Breadth  of  the  skull,  -        *        -     p.  q.       I     0 


FOSSIL  DEER.  247 

2.  Fossil  Deer  of  Scania. — This  species  of  fossil  deer 
was  found  in  a  peat-moss  in  Scania.  It  appears  from  the 
description  of  the  horns,  to  be  an  extinct,  or  at  least  an 
unknown  species. 

3.  Fossil  Deer  of  Somme. — This  species  is  allied  to  the 
fallow-deer.  The  horns,  the  only  parts  hitherto  dicovered, 
show  that  this  animal,  although  nearly  allied  to  the  fallow- 
deer,  must  have  been  much  larger.     The  horns  occur  in 
loose  sand,  arid  have  been  found  in  the  valley  of  Somme 
in  France,  and  also  in  Germany. 

4.  Fossil  Deer  ofEtampes. — This  species  appears  to  be 
allied  to  the  rein-deer,  but  much  smaller,  not  exceeding 
the  roe  in  size.     The  bones  were  found  in  abundance 
near  Etampes  in  France,  imbedded  in  sand. 

5.  Fossil  Roe  of  Orleans. — This  species  was  found  in  the 
vicinity  of  Orleans  in  France.     It  occurs  in  limestone, 
along  with  bones  of  the  palaeotherium.     It  is  the  only 
instance  known  of  the  remains  of  a  living  species  having 
been  found  along  with  those  of  extinct  species.     But  Cu- 
vier  inquires,  May  not  the  bones  belong  to  a  species  of 
roe,  of  which  the  distinctive  characters  lie  in  parts  hither- 
to undiscovered  ? 

6.  Fossil  Roe  of  Somme. — This  species,  the  remains  of 
which  were  found  in  the  peat  of  Somme,  appears  to  be 
very  nearly  allied  to  the  roe. 

7.  Fossil  Red-Deer  or  Stag. — This  species  resembles 
the  red-deer  or  stag.     Its  horns  are  found  abundantly  in 
peat-bogs,  or  sand-pits,  in  England,  France,  Germany, 
and  Italy. 


248  FOSSIL  ox, 


Bos.    Ox. 

1.  Aurochs. — This  species  Cuvier  considers  as  distinct 
from  the  common  ox,  and  differs  from  the  present  exist- 
ing varieties  in  being  larger.     Skulls  and  horns  of  this 
species  have  been  found  in  alluvial  soil  in  England,  Scot- 
land, France,  Germany,  and  America. 

2.  Common  Ox. — The  fossil  sKulls  of  this  species  differ 
from  those  of  the  present  existing  races,  in  being  larger, 
and  the  direction  of  the  horns  being  different.     They 
occur  in  alluvial  soil  in  many  different  parts  of  Europe, 
and  are  considered  by  Cuvier  as  belonging  to  the  origi- 
nal race  of  the  present  domestic  ox. 

3.  Large  Buffalo  of  Siberia.~T\ie  fossil  skull  of  this 
animal  is  of  great  size,  and  appears  to  belong  to  a  spe- 
cies different  from  any  of  those  at  present  known.     It  is 
not  the  common  buffalo,   nor  can  it  be   identified  with 
the  large  buffalo  of  India,  named  arnee.     Cuvier  conjec- 
tures that  it  must  have  lived  at  the-  same  time  with  the 
fossil  elephant,  and  rhinoceros,  in  the  frozen  regions  of 
Siberia. 

4.  Fossil  Ox,  resembling  the  Musk  Ox  of  America. — The 
fossil  remains  of  this  species  more  nearly  resemble  the 
American  niusk  ox  than  any  other  species,   and  have  hi- 
therto been  found  only  in  Siberia. 

It  would  appear,  from  the  facts  just  stated,  that  these 
fossil  remains,  both  of  deer  and  oxen,  may  be  distin- 
guished into  two  classes,  the  unknown  and  the  known 
ruminants.  In  the  first  class  Cuvier  places  the  Irish  elk, 
the  small  deer  of  Etampes,  the  stag  of  Scania,  and  the 
great  buffalo  of  Siberia ;  in  the  second  class  he  places  the 


GEOLOGICAL  SPECULATIONS.         249 

common  stag,  the  common  roe-buck,  the  aurochs,  the  ox 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  original  of  the  domestic  ox, 
the  buffalo  with  approximated  horns,  which  appears  to  be 
analogous  to  the  musk  ox  of  Canada ;  and  there  remains 
a  dubious  species,  the  great  deer  ofSomme,  which  much 
resembles  the  common  fallow-deer. 

From  what  has  been  ascertained  in  regard  to  the  strata 
in  which  these  remains  have  been  found,  it  would  appear 
that  the  known  species  are  contained  in  newer  beds  than 
the  unknown.  Further,  that  the  fossil  remains  of  the 
known  species  are  those  of  animals  of  the  climate  where 
they  are  now  found  :  thus  the  stag,  ox,  aurochs,  roe-deer, 
musk  ox  of  Canada,  now  dwell,  and  have  always  dwelt, 
in  cold  countries  ;  whereas  the  species  which  are  regard- 
ed as  unknown,  appear  to  be  analogous  to  those  of  warm 
countries  :  thus  the  great  buffalo  of  Siberia  can  only  be 
compared  with  the  buffalo  of  India,  the  arnee.  M.  Cuvier 
concludes,  that  the  facts  hitherto  collected  seem  to  an- 
nounce, at  least  as  plainly  as  two  imperfect  documents 
can,  that  the  two  sorts  of  fossil  ruminants  belong  to  two 
orders  of  alluvial  deposites  and  consequently  to  two  dif- 
ferent geological  epochas ;  that  the  one  have  been,  and 
are  now,  daily  becoming  enveloped  in  alluvial  matter; 
whereas  the  others  have  been  the  victims  of  the  same  re- 
volution which  destroyed  the  other  species  of  the  alluvial 
strata ;  such  as  mammoths,  mastodons,  and  all  the  mult- 
ungula,  the  genera  of  which  now  exist  onl^^n  the  torrid 
zone. 


32 


250  J?OSSiIr  RHINOCEROS, 


ORDER.— MULTUNGULA'. 


Rhinoceros. 

Three  species  of  this  genus  are  at  present  known  to  na- 
turalists, as  inhabitants  of  different  parts  of  the  world. 
These  are  the  two-horned  rhinoceros  of  Africa,  the  one- 
horned  rhinoceros  of  Asia,  and  the  rhinoceros  of  the 
island  of  Sumatra.  Only  one  fossil  species  has  hitherto 
been  discovered,  which  differs  from  the  three  living  spe- 
cies, not  only  in  structure,  but  in  geographical  distribu- 
tion. It  was  first  noticed  in  the  time  of  Grew,  and  the 
bones  he  mentions  were  dug  out  of  alluvial  soil  near  Can- 
terbury. Since  that  period  similar  remains  have  been 
found  in  many  places  of  Germany,  France,  and  Italy. 
In  Siberia,  not  only  single  bones  and  skulls,  but  the 
whole  animal,  with  the  flesh  and  skin,  have  been  disco- 
vered. 

Hippopotamus. 

Only  one  species  of  this  genus  is  at  present  known  to 
Jive  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  is  an  inhabitant  of 
Africa,  and,  according  to  Marsden,  also  of  Asia,  for  he 
mentions  it  as  one  of  the  animals  of  the  island  of  Suma- 
tra. M.  Cuyier  is  inclined  to  call  in  question  the  accu- 
racy of  this  statement  of  Marsden's,  and  to  conjecture 
that  he  may  have  confounded  the  succotyro  of  Newhoff 
with  the  hippopotamus.  Mr.  Marsden,  in  the  new  edi- 
tion of  his  excellent  description  of  Sumatra,  still  enume- 
rates the  hippopotamus  amongst  the  Sumatrian  animals, 
but  appears  to  have  misunderstood  Cuvier,  when  he  says 
that  he  accuses  him  of  confounding  the  hippopotamu? 


FOSSIL  HIPPOPOTAMUS.  251 

•with  the  dugong.%  Two  fossil  species  have  been  ascer- 
tained by  Cuvier.  The  one,  which  is  the  largest,  is  so 
very  nearly  allied  to  the  species  at  present  living  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  that  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whe- 
ther or  not  it  is  not  the  same.  Its  fossil  remains  have 
been  found  in  alluvial  soil  in  France  and  Italy.  The  se- 
cond fossil  species,  and  the  smallest,  the  animal  not  be- 
ing larger  than  a  hog,  is  well  characterized,  and  is  entire- 
ly different  from  any  of  the  existing  species  of  quadru- 
peds. 

Tapir. 

The  tapir  is  an  animal  peculiar  to  the  new  world,  and 
has  hitherto  been  found  only  in  South  America.  Yet 
two  fossil  species  of  this  genus  have  been  discovered  in 


*  "  Hippopotamus,  Kiida-ayer.  The  existence  of  this  quadruped  in 
•the  island  of  Sumatra  having  been  questioned  by  M.  Cuvier,  and  not 
having  myself  actually  seen  it,  I  think  it  necessary  to  state,  that  the 
immediate  authority  upon  which  I  included  it  in  the  list  of  animals 
found  there,  was  a  drawing  made  by  M.  Whalfeldt,  an  officer  employ- 
ed in  a  survey  of  the  coast,  who  had  met  with  it  at  the  mouth  of  one 
of  the  southern  rivers,  and  transmitted  the  sketch  along  with  his  report 
to  the  government,  of  which  I  was  then  secretary.  Of  its  general 
resemblance  to  that  well-known  animal  there  could  be  no^loubt.  M. 
Cuvier  suspects  that  I  may  have  mistaken  it  for  the  animal  called  by 
naturalists  the  dugong,  and  vulgarly  the  sea-cow,  which  will  be 
hereafter  mentioned  ;  and  it  would  indeed  be  a  grievous  error,  to  mis- 
take for  a  beast  with  four  legs,  a  fish  with  two  pectoral  fins,  serving 
the  purposes  of  feet ;  but  independently  of  *the  authority  I  have  stated, 
the  kuda-ayer,  or  river  horse,  is  familiarly  known  to  the  natives,  as  is 
also  the  duyong  (from  which  Malayan  word  the  dugong  of  naturalists 
-has  been  corrupted) ;  and  I  have  only  to  add,  that  in  a  register  given 
by  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Batavia,  in  the  first  volume  of  their 
Transactions,  for  1799,  appears  the  article,  *  conda  aijetr,  rivier  paard, 
hippopotamus,'  amongst  the  animals  of  Java." — MARSDEN'S  History 
of  Sumatra,  3d  edit.  p.  116. 117, 


252 


FOSSIL  ELEPHANT,  OR  MAMMOTH. 


Europe.  The  one  is  named  the  small,  the  other  the  gi- 
gantic tapir,  and  both  have  been  found  in  different  parts 
of  France,  Germany,  and  Italy. 

Elephant9  or  Mammoth. 

Of  this  genus  two  species  are  at  present  known  as  in- 
habitants of  the  earth.  The  one,  which  is  confined  to 
Africa,  is  named  the  African  elephant ;  the  other,  which 
is  a  native  of  Asia,  is  named  the  Asiatic  elephant.  Only 
one  fossil  species  has  hitherto  been  discovered.  It  is  the 
mammoth  of  the  Russians.  It  differs  from  both  the  existing 
species,  but  agrees  more  nearly  with  the  Asiatic  than  the 
African  species.*  Its  bones  have  been  found  in  many 
different  parts  of  this  island  ;  as  in  the  alluvial  soil  around 
London,  in  the  county  of  Northampton,  at  Gloucester, 
at  Trenton,  near  Stafford,  near  Harwich,  at  Norwich,  in 
the  island  of  Sheppey,  in  the  river  Medway,  in  Salisbury 
Plain,  and  in  Flintshire  in  Wales;  and  similar  remains 
have  been  dug  up  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  Bones  of  this 
animal  have  been  dug  up  in  Sweden,  and  Cuvier  con- 
jectures that  the  bones  of  supposed  giants,  mentioned  by 
the  celebrated  Bishop  Pontoppidan  as  having  been  found 
in  Norway,  are  remains  of  the  fossil  elephant.  Torfaeus 
mentions  a  head  and  tooth  of  this  animal  dug  up  in  the 
island  of  Iceland.  In  Russia  in  Europe,  Poland,  Germa- 
ny, France,  Holland,  and  Hungary,  teeth  and  bones  of 
this  species  of  elephant  have  been  found  in  abundance. 
Humboldt  found  teeth  of  this  animal  in  North  and  South 
America.  But  it  is  in  Asiatic  Russia  that  they  occur  in 
greatest  abundance.  Pallas  says,  that  from  the  Don  or 
the  Tanais  to  Tchutskoinoss,  there  is  scarcely  a  river  the 


*  These  three  species  are  well  distinguished  by  the  appearance  of  the 
surface  of  the  grinding  teeth,  as  is  shown  in  plate  second. 


FOSSIL  ELEPHANT,  OR  MAMMOTH.  253 

bank  of  which  does  not  afford  remains  of  the  mammoth  ; 
and  these  are  frequently  imbedded  in,  or  covered  with, 
alluvial  soil,  containing  marine  productions.  The  bones 
are  generally  dispersed,  seldom  occurring  in  complete 
skeletons,  and  still  more  rarely  do  we  find  the  fleshy  part 
of  the  animal  reserved.  One  of  the  most  interesting  in- 
stances on  record  of  the  preservation  of  the  carcass  of 
this  animal,  is  given  by  M.  Cuvier  in  the  following  rela- 
tion.* • 

"In  the  year  1799,   a  Tungusian  fisherman  observed 
a  strange   shapeless   mass  projecting  from  an  ice-bank, 
near  the  mouth  of  a  river  in  the  north  of  Siberia,  the 
nature  of  which  he  did  not  understand,  and  which  .  was 
so  high  in  the  bank  as  to  be  beyond  his  reach.     He  next 
year  observed  the  same  object,  which  was  then  rather 
more  disengaged  from  among  the  ice,  but  was  still  un- 
able to  conceive  what  it  was.     Towards  the  end  of  the 
following  summer,    1801,  he  could  distinctly  see  that  it 
was  the  frozen  carcass  of  an  enormous  animal,  the  entire 
flank  of  which  and  one  of  its  tusks  had  become  disengag- 
ed from  the  ice.     In  consequence  of  the  ice  beginning 
to  melt  earlier  and  to  a  greater  degree  than  usual  ir>  1803, 
the  fifth  year  of  this  discovery,  the  enormous  carcass 
became  entirely  disengaged,  and  fell  down  from  the  ice- 
crag  on  a  sand-bank  forming  part  of  the  coast  of  the 
Arctic  ocean.     In  the  month  of  March  of  that  year,  the 
Tungusian  carried  away  the  two  tusks,  which  he  sold  for 
the  value  of  fifty  rubles ;  and  at  this  time  a  drawing  was 
made  of  the  animal,  of  which  I  possess  a  copy. 


*  This  singular  discovery  is  given  by  Professor  Cuvier,  as  taken  from 
a  Report  in  the  Supplement  to  the  Journal  du  Nord,  No.  xxx.  by  M 
Adams,  adjunct  member  of  the  Academy  of  St.  Petersburgh. 


J'OSSIL   ELEPl-IAxVT,  OR  MAMMOTH. 

«  Two  years  afterwards,  or  in  1806,  Mr.  Adams  went 
to  exarutne  this  animal,  which  still  remained  on  the  sand- 
bank where  it  had  fallen  from  the  ice,  but  its  body  was 
then  greatly  mutilated.  The  Jukuts  of  the  neighbour- 
hood had  taken  away  considerable  quantities  of  its  flesh 
to  feed  their  dogs ;  and  the  wild  animals,  particularly 
the  white  bears,  had  also  feasted  on  the  carcass;  yet 
the  skeleton  remained  quite  entire,  except  that  one  of 
the  fore-legs  was  gone.  The  entire  spine,  the  pelvis,  one 
shoulder-blade,  and  three  legs,  were  still  held  together 
by  their  ligaments  and  by  some  remains  of  the  skin ; 
and  the  other  shoulder-blade  was  found  at  a  short  dis- 
tance. The  head  remained,  covered  by  the  dried  skin, 
and  the  pupil  of  the  eyes  was  still  distinguishable.  The 
brain  also  remained  within  the  skull,  but  a  good  deal 
shrunk  and  dried  up;  and  one  of  the  ears  was  in  excellent 
preservation,  still  retaining  a  tuft  of  strong  bristly  hair. 
The  upper  lip  was  a  good  deal  eaten  away,  and  the  un- 
der lip  was  entirely  gone,  so  that  the  teeth  were  distinct- 
ly seen.  The  animal  was  a  male,  and  had  a  long  mane 
on  its  neck. 

"  The  skin  was  extremely  thick  and  heavy,  and  as 
much  of  it  remained  as  required  the  exertions  of  ten 
raen  to  carry  away,  which  they  did  with  considerable 
difficulty.  More  than  thirty  pounds  weight  of  the  hair 
and  bristles  of  this  animal  were  gathered  from  the  wet 
sand-bank,  having  been  trampled  into  the  mud  by  the 
white  bears  while  devouring  the  carcass.  Some  of  the 
liair  was  presented  to  our  Museum  of  Natural  History 
by  M.  Targe,  censor  in  the  Lyceum  of  Charlemagne* 
It  consists  of  three  distinct  kinds.  One  of  these  is  stiff* 
black  bristles,  a  foot  or  more  in  length  ;  another  is  thin- 
ner bristles,  or  coarse  flexible  hair,  of  a  reddish  brown 
eolour;  and  the  third  is  a  coarse  reddish-brown  woolj 


FOSSIL  HOG  AND  MASTODOX.  255 

which  grew  among  the  roots  of  the  long  hair.  These 
afford  an  undeniable  proof  that  this  animal  had  belong- 
ed to  a  race  of  elephants  inhabiting  a  cold  region,  with 
which  we  are  now  unacquainted,  and  by  no  means  fitted 
to  dwell  in  the  torrid  zone.  It  is  also  evident  that  this 
enormous  animal  must  have  been  frozen  up  by  the  ice  at 
the  moment  of  its  death. 

"  Mr.  Adams,  who  bestowed  the  utmost  care  in  col- 
lecting all  the  parts  of  the  skeleton  of  this  animal,  pro- 
poses to  publish  an  exact  account  of  its  osteology,  which 
must  be  an  exceedingly  valuable  present  to  the  philoso- 
phical world.  In  the  mean  time,  from  the  drawing  I 
have  now  before  me,  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  sockets  of  the  teeth  of  this  northern  elephant  have 
the  same  proportional  lengths  with  those  of  other  fossil 
elephants,  of  which  the  entire  skulls  have  been  found  in 
other  places."^ 

Sns.     Hog. 

Only  single  bones  and  teeth  of  this  tribe  have  been  hi- 
therto met  with,  and  these  appear  to  belong  to  the  sus 
scrofa,  or  common  hog.  They  are  found  in  peat  mosses, 
©r  in  very  new  alluvial  deposites. 

Mastodon. 

This  is  entirely  a  fossil  genus,  no  living  species  having- 
hitherto  been  discovered  in  any  part  of  the  world.  It  is 
more  nearly  allied  to  the  elephant  than  to  any  other  ani- 

*  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  although  fossil  bones  of  the  elephant 
were  described  as  such  in  the  middle  of  the  10th  century  by  Aldrovan- 
dus,  it  was  not  until  two  centuries  afterwards  that  this  opinion  was 
credited.  In  the  intermediate  time  they  were  described  as  lusus  na- 
turae, bones  of  giants,  skeletons  of  fallen  angels,  remains  of  marine  ani- 
mals, or  of  colossal  baboons. 


256  FOSSIL  MASTODON* 

mal  of  the  present  creation ;  it  appears  to  have  been  a 
herbivorous  animal ;  and  the  largest  species,  the  great 
mastodon  of  Cuvier,  was  equal  in  size  to  the  elephant. 
Five  species  are  described  by  Cuvier. 

1.  Great  Mastodon. — This  species  has  been   hitherto 
found  in  greatest  abundance  in  North  America,  near  the 
river  Ohio,  and  remains  of  it  have  been  also  dug  up  in 
Siberia.     It  has  been  frequently   confounded  with  the 
mammoth  or  fossil  elephant,  and  in  North  America  it  is 
named  mammoth.     In  plate  2d  we  have  given  an  engrav- 
ing of  one  of  the  grinding  teeth  of  this  animal. 

2.  Mastodon  with  narrow  Grinders. — The  fossil  remains 
of  this  species  have  been  dug  up  at  Simorre  and  many 
other  places  in  Europe,  and  also  in  America. 

3.  Little  Mastodon  -with  small  Grinders. — This  species  is 
much  less  than  the  preceding,  and  was  found  in  Saxony 
and  Montabusard. 

4.  Mastodon  of  the  Cordilleras. — This  species  was  dis- 
covered in  South  America  by  Humboldt.     Its  grinders 
are  square,  and  it  appears  to  have  equalled  in  size  the 
great  mastodon. 

5.  Humboldien  Mastodon. — This,  which  is  the  smallest 
species  of  the  genus,  was  found  in  America  by  Hum- 
boldt. 

All  the  fossil  species  of  quadrupeds  we  have  just  enu- 
merated have  been  found  in  the  alluvial  soil  which  covers 
the  bottoms  of  valleys,  or  is  spread  over  the  surface  of 
plains.  All  of  them  are  stangers  to  the  climate  where 
these  bones  now  rest.  The  five  species  of  mastodons 
alone  may  be  considered  as  forming  a  distinct  and  hither- 
to unknown  genus,  nearly  allied  to  that  of  the  elephant. 


GEOLOGICAL  SPECULATIONS. 

All  the  others  belong  to  genera  still  existing  in  the  tor- 
rid zone.  Three  of  these  genera,  viz.  the  rhinoceros, 
hippopotamus,  and  elephant,  occur  only  in  the  old  world; 
the  fourth,  the  tapir,  exists  only  in  the  new  world.  But 
the  fossil  species  have  not  the  same  geographical  distri- 
bution :  It  is  in  the  old  world  that  we  dig  up  the  bones 
of  the  tapir,  and  some  remains  of  the  elephant  have  been 
discovered  in  the  new  world.  The  fossil  species  includ- 
ed under  the  known  genera  differ  sensibly  from  the 
present  species,  and  are  certainly  not  mere  varieties.  Of 
all  the  eleven  fossil  species,  the  large  hippopotamus  is  the 
only  one  which  we  cannot  say  with  certainty  does  not 
belong  to  the  present  living  species  of  that  genus.  The 
small  hippopotamus  and  gigantic  tapir  are  unquestiona- 
bly new  species ;  there  is  scarcely  a  doubt  of  the  fossil 
rhinoceros  being  a  distinct  species ;  and  although  the 
fossil  elephant  and  the  little  tapir  are  not  so  well  marked 
as  new  species,  yet,  as  Cuvier  remarks,  there  are  reasons 
sufficient  to  convince  the  experienced  anatomist  of  their 
being  different  from  any  of  the  present  existing  species. 
These  different  fossil  bones  are  found  almost  everywhere 
in  beds  of  nearly  the  same  kind  ;  they  are  often  promis- 
cuously mixed  with  bones  of  animals  resembling  the  spe- 
cies of  the  present  time.  These  beds  are  generally  allu- 
vial, either  sandy  or  marly,  and  always  near  the  earth's 
surface.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  these  bones  have 
been  enveloped  by  the  last,  or  one  of  the  last,  catastro- 
phes to  which  our  earth  has  been  subjected.  In  many 
places  they  are  accompanied  with  accumulations  of  ma- 
rine animal  remains,  and  in  other  places  the  sand  and 
marl  which  cover  them  contain  only  fresh  water  shells. 
Wo  have  no  authentic  account  of  their  having  been 
found  covered  with  figetz,  or  other  solid  strata  contain- 
ing marine  animals,  and  therefore  cannot  affirm  that 
they  were  for  a  long  time  covered  with  a  tranquil  sea. 

33 


258  GEOLOGICAL  SPECULATIONS. 

The  catastrophe,  then,  which  has  covered  them,  appears 
to  have  been  a  transient  marine  inundation.  This  inun- 
dation does  not  appear  to  have  reached  to  the  high 
mountains,  because  the  formation  in  which  these  re- 
mains are  found  does  not  occur  there,  and  these  bones 
are  not  found  in  the  high  valleys,  if  we  except  a  few  in 
the  warmer  parts  of  America.  The  bones  are  neither 
rolled  nor  in  skeletons,  but  dispersed,  and  in  part  bro- 
ken or  fractured.  They  have  not  therefore  been  brought 
there  from  a  distance  by  an  inundation,  but  have  been 
found  by  it  in  the  places  where  it  has  covered  them,  as 
might  be  expected,  if  the  animals  to  which  they  belong- 
ed had  dwelt  in  these  places,  and  had  there  successively 
died.  Hence  it  appears,  that  before  this  catastrophe 
these  animals  lived  in  the  countries  where  we  now  find 
their  bones:  It  is  this  inundation  which  has  destroyed 
them  ;  and  as  we  do  not  find  them  elsewhere,  the  species 
must  have  been  aneihilated.  It  would  thus  appear, 
that  the  northern  parts  of  the  globe  formerly  nourished 
species  belonging  to  the  elephant,  hippopotamus,  rhino- 
ceros, tapir,  and  mastodon  tribes;  and  all  of  these,  with 
exception  of  the  mastodon,  which  is  entirely  a  fossil  ge- 
nus, have  species  living,  but  only  in  the  torrid  zone. 
Nevertheless  there  is  nothing  to  countenance  the  belief, 
that  the  species  of  the  torrid  zone  have  descended  from 
the  ancient  animals  of  the  north,  which  have  been  gra- 
dually or  suddenly  transported  toward  the  equator. 
They  are  w>t  the  same ;  and  we  may  see,  by  the  exami- 
nation of  the  most  ancient  mummies,  as  those  of  the  ibis, 
that  fio  established  fact  authorizes  the  belief  of  changes 
50  great  as  those  which  must  be  assumed  for  such  a  trans- 
formation, especially  in  wild  animals.  Nor  are  there 
any  decisive  proofs  of  the  temperature  of  northern  cli- 
mates having  changed  since  this  epoch.  The  fossil  spe- 
cies do  not  differ  less  from  the  living,  than  certain  north- 
ern animals  differ  from  their  co-genera  of  the  south  ; — 


FOSSIL  FALjEOTHERIUM.  259 

the  isatis  of  Siberia,  for  example,  (canis  lagopus)  from  the 
chacal  of  India  and  of  Africa  (canis  aureus).  They 
therefore  ought  to  have  belonged  to  much  colder  cli- 
mates. 

• 

Palazotherium.* 

This  is  a  new  and  entirely  fossil  genus,  which  was 
found  by  Cuvier  in  the  rocks  around  Paris.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  characters  of  the  genus  and  the  species: 

Denies  44.     Primores  utrinque  6. 

Laniarii  4,  acuminati  paulo  longiores,  tecti. 

Molares  28,  utrinque  7.     Superior es  quadrati ;  inferiors  bi- 

lunati. 

Nasus  productior,  flexilis. 
Palmes,  etplantce  tradactylas. 

1.  P.  Magnum.  Statura  Equi. 

2.  P.  Medium.  Statura  Suis  ;  pedibus  strictis,  subelongatis. 

3.  P.  Crassum.  Statura  Suis ;  pedibus  latis,  brevioribus. 

4.  P.  Curtum.  Pedibus  ecurtatis patulis. 

5.  P.  Minus.  Statura  Ovis ;  pedibus  strictis,  digitis  laU- 

ralibus  minoribus. 

Besides  these  five  species  found  in  the  gypsum  quarries 
around  Paris,  remains  of  others  have  been  discovered  in 
other  parts  of  France,  either  imbedded  in  the  fresh  water 
limestone,  or  in  alluvial  soil.  Cuvier  enumerates  and  de- 
scribes the  following  species : 

6.  P.  Giganteum.        Statura  Rhinoccrotis. 

7.  P.  Tapiroides.        Statura  Bovis;   molarium  inferiorum 

colliculis  fere  rectis,  transversis- 

*  Palseotherium  signifies  ancient  large  animal,  or  beast. 


260  FOSSIL   ANOPLOTHERIUM. 

8.  P.  Buxovillanum.  Statura  Suis ;   molaribm  inferior ibm 

extus  sub  gibbosis* 

9.  P.  Aurelianensl.      Statura  Suis  j  molarium  inferiorum  an- 

gulo  intermedia  bicorni' 

10  P.  Occitanicum.     Statura  Ovis;  molarium  inferiorum  an- 
gulo  intermedio  bicorni* 

Anoplotherium.  * 

This  also  is  another  fossil  genus  first  discovered  by 
Cuvier.     The  following  are  its  characters: 

Denies  44,  serie  continue,- 

Primores  utrinque  6. 

Laniarii  primoribus  similes,  ceteris  non  longiores- 

Molares  28,  utrinque  7*     Anteriores  compressi.     Posteriores 

superiores  quadrati-     Inferiores  'bilunati. 
Palmce  etplantce  didactylce,  ossibu*  metacarpi  et  metatarsi  dis- 

cretis  ;  digitis  accessoriis  in  quibusdam. 

1.  A-  Conimune-       Digito  accessorio  duplo  breviori,  in  pal- 

mis  tantum ;   cauda  corporis  longitu- 

dine  crassissima- 

Magnitude  JLsini  aut  Equi  minor  is- 
Habitus  elongatus  et  depressus  Lutrce. 
Verisimiliter  natatorius- 

2.  A.  Secundarium.  Similis  prcecedenti,  sed  statura  Suis.     E 

tibia  et  molaribus  aliquot  cognitum. 
3-  A.  Medium.          Pedibus  elcmgatisj  digitis,  accessoriis  nul- 

lis. 

Magnitude  et  habitus  elegans  Gazelles- 
4.  A.  Minus.  Dignito  accessorio  utrinque,  in  palmis  et 

plantis,  mtermedios  fere  cequante. 
Magnitude  et  habitus  Leporis. 

*  Anoplotherium  signifies  beast  without  weapons ;  thus  referring  to 
its  distinguishing  character,  its  want  of  canine  teeth. 


FOSSIL  BEAVER,  SEAL,  AND  LAMANTIN.  261 

5.  A.  Minimum.       Statura  pavice  Cobayce,  e  maxilla  tantuni 

cognitum- 

Habit  atio  omnium,  olim,  in  regione  ubi 
nunc  Lutetia  Parisiorum. 


ORDER.— PALMATA. 
FAMILY.     GLIRES. 

Castor.     Beaver. 

Cuvier  describes  two  species  of  beaver  found  in  allu- 
vial strata.  The  one,  \vhich  is  nearly  allied  to  the  castor 
fiber,  or  common  beaver,  is  found  in  France ;  the  other, 
found  on  the  shores  of  the  sea  of  Azof  by  M.  Fischer, 
differs  from  the  former,  and  is  named  castor  trogontherium. 

FAMILY.     FER.E. 

Phoca.     Seal. 

The  remains  of  a  species  of  seal  nearly  three  times  the 
size  of  the  common  seal,  or  phoca  vitulina,  have  been 
found  in  the  coarse  marine  limestone  of  the  department 
of  the  Maine  and  Loire.  Another  species  of  this  genus, 
but  somewhat  less  than  the  common,  is  also  described  by 
Cuvier,  as  occurring  in  the  same  limestone. 

/ 
FAMILY.     BRUTA. 

Lamantin. 

Two  species  of  this  remarkable  genus  have  been  found 
imbedded  in  the  coarse  marine  limestone  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Maine  and  Loire. 


262  FOSSIL  STARLING,  QUAIL,  TERN,  &C. 


CLASS.— AVES. 

Sturnus.     Starting. 

Fossil  remains  of  species  of  this  genus  occur  in  the  for- 
mations around  Paris. 

Coturnix.     Quail. 

Bones  of  this  tribe  of  birds  have  been  found  in  the 
strata  near  Paris. 

Sterna.     Tern. 

Bones  of  terns  are  occasionally  found  along  with  those 
of  the  quail  in  the  Parisian  strata. 

Grallce.     Wadders. 

Bones  of  birds  resembling  those  of  the  order  grallae 
have  been  found  near  Pans  enclosed  in  the  solid  rocks. 

Ptlicanus.     Pelican. 

Bones  nearly  resembling  those  of  the  pelican  tribe  oc- 
cur in  the  Paris  formations. 


CLASS.— AMPHIBIA. 

ORDER.— REPTILES. 

Testudo.     Tortoise. 

Fossil  remains  of  this  genus  are  met  with  in  different 
parts  of  Europe.  Thus,  fossil  tortoises,  of  unknown  spe- 
cies, are  found  imbedded  in  coarse  marina  limestone  at 


FOSSIL    CROCODILE.  263 

the  village  of  Melsbroeck,  in  the  environs  of  Brussels. 
Fossil  remains  of  unknown  species  of  tortoises  are  also 
met  with  in  the  coarse  chalk  or  limestone  of  the  hill  of 
Saint  Peter,  near  Maestricht.  They  are  irregularly  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  masses  of  the  rock,  along  with 
different  marine  productions,  and  bones  of  the  gigantic 
monitor.  All  of  them  are  remains  of  jsea-tortoises, 
named  chelonii  by  French  zoologists;  but  of  species 
different  from  any  of  those  at  present  known. 

Remains  of  a  marine,  but  unknown  species  of  tortoise 
were  found  in  the  limestone  slate  of  Glaris ;  and  remains 
of  unknown  species  kave  also  been  dug  out  of  the  rocks- 
of  a  formation  analogous  to  that  around  Paris,  situated 
in  the  vicinity  of  Aix.  And  fossil  fresh-water  species 
have  been  found  in  the  gypsum  quarries  near  Paris. 

Crocodilus.     Crocodile. 

Two  extinct  species  of  fossil  crocodiles,  nearly  allied 
to  the  gavial  (Lac.  gangeticus)  or  gangetic  crocodile, 
sccur  in  a  pyritical  bluish-gray  compact  limestone,  at 
fche  bottom  of  the  cliffs  of  Honfleur  and  Havre  ;  and  one 
of  these  species  at  least  is  found  in  other  parts  of  France, 
as  at  Aler.^on  and  elsewhere.^  It  would  also  appear 
that  the  skeleton  of  a  crocodile,  discovered  at  the  bottom 
of  a  cliff  of  pyritical  slate,  about  half  a  mile  from  Whitby, 
by  Captain  William  Chapman,  probably  belongs  to  one 
of  these  species.  And  it  may  further  be  remarked,  that 
the  fragments  of  heads  of  crocodiles  found  in  the  Vicen- 
tine,  may  be  referred  to  the  same  species.  2.  That  the 
fossil  heads,  found  at  Altorf,  are  different  from  those  of 


*  Cuvier  describes  bones  of  a  crocodile  found  in  the  slaty  limestone 
of  Altorf,  which  had  been  considered  as  remains  of  the  human  species. 


264 


FOSSIL    MONITOR. 


the  gavial,  and  have  a  longer  snout  than  that  of  the  ani- 
mal of  Honfleur,  and  may  therefore  belong  to  the  other 
fossil  species  found  in  France.  3.  That  the  remains  of  an 
unknown  species  of  fossil  crocodile  was  found  near  New- 
ark, in  Nottinghamshire,  by  Dr.  Stukely.  4.  That  the 
supposed  crocodiles  found  along  with  fish  in  the  cop- 
per slate,  or  bituminous  marl  slate,  of  Thuringia,  are 
reptiles  of  the  genus  monitor.  5.  Lastly,  that  all  these 
fossil  remains  of  oviparous  quadrupeds  belong  to  very 
old  flo3tz  strata,  far  older  than  the  floetz  rocks  that  con- 
tain unknown  genera  of  quadrupeds,  such  as  the  palce- 
otheriums  and  anoplotheriums ;  which  opinion,  however, 
does  not  oppose  the  finding  of  the  remains  of  crocodiles 
with  those  of  these  genera,  as  has  been  done  in  the  gyp- 
sum quarries.^ 

Monitor. 

In  the  well-known  quarries  of  Macstricht  there  occur 
remains  of  a  large  fossil  monitor.  This  species,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  all  the  fossil  species  of 
oviparous  quadrupeds,  occurs  in  a  soft  limestone  which 
contains  flint,  and  the  same  kinds  of  petrifactions  as  are 
observed  in  the  chalk  near  Paris.  Even  so  early  as  the 
year  1T66  it  had  engaged  the  attention  of  inquirers,  and 
up  to  the  present  day  has  not  ceased  to  be  an  object  of 
discussion  and  investigation  among  naturalists.  Some 
have  described  it  as  a  crocodile,  others  as  a  whale;  and  it 
has  even  been  arranged  along  with  fishes.  Cuvier,  after 

*  Sir  Everard  Home  has  described,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  for  the  year  1814,  the  fossil  remains  of  an  animal 
possessing  characters  partly  of  the  crocodile,  partly  of  the  species  of 
the  class  of  fishes.  It  was  found  in  a  blue-coloured  clayey  limestone, 
named  .Lias,  on  the  estate  of  Henry  Host  Henley,  Esq.  between  Lyine 
and  Charmoutji,  in  Dorsetshire,  and  is  now  in  the  museum  of  Mr 
Bullock  of  London, 


FOSSIL  MONITOR.  265 

a  careful  study  of  its  osteology,  ascertained  that  it  must 
have  formed  an  intermediate  genus  between  those  ani- 
mals of  the  lizard  tribe,  which  have  a  long  and  forked 
tongue,  and  those  which  have  a  short  tongue  and  the  pa- 
late armed  with  teeth.  The  length  of  the  skeleton  ap- 
pears to  have  been  nearly  twenty-four  feet.  The  head  is 
a  sixth  of  the  whole  length  of  the  animal ;  a  proportion 
approaching  very  near  to  that  of  the  crocodile,  but  dif- 
fering much  from  that  of  the  monitor,  the  head  of  which 
animal  forms  hardly  a  twelfth  part  of  the  whole  length. 
The  tail  must  have  been  very  strong,  and  its  width  at  its 
extremity  must  have  rendered  it  a  most  powerful  oar,  and 
have  enabled  the  animal  to  have  opposed  the  most  agi- 
tated waters.  From  this  circumstance,  and  from  the  other 
remains  which  accompany  those  of  this  animal,  Cuvier  is 
of  opinion  that  it  must  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  the 
ocean.  We  have  here  then  an  instance  of  an  animal  far 
surpassing  in  its  size  any  of  the  animals  of  those  genera 
to  which  it  approaches  the  nearest  in  its  general  charac- 
ters ;  at  the  same  time,  that,  from  its  accompanying  or- 
ganic remains,  we  find  reason  to  believe  it  to  have  been 
an  inhabitant  of  the  ocean,  whilst  none  of  the  existing 
lizard  tribe  are  known  to  live  in  salt  water.  However 
remarkable  these  circumstances  are,  still  they  are  not 
more  wonderful  than  those  we  contemplate  in  many  of 
the  numerous  discoveries  in  the  natural  history  of  the  an- 
cient world.  We  have  already  seen  a  tapir  of  the  size  of 
an  elephant ;  the  megalonix,  an  animal  of  the  sloth  tribe, 
as  large  as  a  rhinoceros  ;  and  here  we  have  a  monitor  pos- 
sessing the  magnitude  of  a  crocodile. 

Salamandra.     Salamander. 

In  the  valley  of  Aitmiihl,  near  Aichsted  and  Pappen- 
heim,  and  also  at  Aeningen,  there  is  a  formation  of  calca- 
rious  slate  rich  in  petrifactions.  One  of  the  most  re- 

34 


26(5  FOSSIL  TOAD  AND  SAL'llUS. 

ruarkable  of  these  is  that  described  by  Scheuchzer,  un- 
der the  name  "  Homme  Fossile,"  and  which  some  natu- 
ralists, as  Gesner,  maintained  to  be  the  siluris  glanis  oi 
Linnaeus,  but  which  is,  in  reality,  nothing  more  than  an 
unknown,  and  probably  extinct  species  of  salamander  or 
proteus.  It  was  found  imbedded  in  the  limestone  of 
Aeningen, 

Bufo.     Toad. 

Fossil  remains  of  an  animal  of  this  tribe  occur  in  the 
slaty  limestone  of  Aeningen.  Dr.  Karg,  who  has  pub- 
lished a  long  description  of  the  Aeningen  quarries,  is  of 
opinion,  that  this  petrifaction  is  that  of  a  common  toad  ; 
whereas  Cuvier  is  inclined  to  refer  it  to  some  species 
nearly  allied  to  the  bufo  calamita. 

Fossil  Saurus  of  Cuvier. 

Only  one  specimen  of  this  remarkable  fossil  animal  has 
hitherto  been  found,  and  is  now,  I  believe,  in  the  cabi- 
net of  the  King  of  Bavaria.  It  was  formerly  in  the  pos- 
session of  Collini,  and,  according  to  the  German  journal- 
ists, was  long  concealed,  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
French,  who,  it  is  alleged,  wished  to  secure  for  their  own 
Museum  so  valuable  an  object  of  natural  history.  This 
is  denied  by  M.  Cuvier,  who,  in  a  letter  to  me  on  this 
subject,  declares,  that  after  the  time  of  the  Directory  no 
plundering  was  authorized ;  on  the  contrary,  that  the 
French  government  rather  bestowed  donations  than  com- 
mitted robberies. 

In  regard  to  this  remarkable  specimen,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, that  some  naturalists  have  taken  it  for  a  bird, 
others  for  a  bat,  but  Cuvier  is  of  opinion  that  it  belongs 
to  the  class  amphibia.  Its  true  nature  is  still  unascer- 


FOSSIL  PISCES  AND  OSSEOUS  BRECCIA.  267 

tained,  although  it  appears  more  nearly  allied  to  the  class 
mammalia  than  to  any  of  the  others  in  the  system. 


CLASS.— PISCES. 

Cuvier  has  not  devoted  much  of  his  attention  to  the 
natural  history  of  fossil  fishes.  He  only  mentions  in  a 
very  general  way,  in  his  great  work,  the  few  genera  met 
with  in  the  gypsum  quarries  around  Paris.  Five  species 
are  mentioned.  The  first  described  belongs  to  a  new 
genus  allied  to  that  named  amier,  and  is  conjectured  to  be 
a  fresh  water  species.  The  second  is  nearly  allied  to 
two  fresh  water  genera,  viz.  the  mormyrus  of  La  Cepide, 
natives  of  the  river  Nile,  and  the  pcscilia  of  Bloch,  na- 
tives of  the  fresh  waters  of  Carolina.  The  third  appears 
to  be  a  species  of  sparus,  different  from  any  of  the  present 
species.  The  fourth  and  fifth  are  very  dubious. 

Osseous  Conglomerate,  or  Breccia. 

Cuvier  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  osseous 
conglomerate,  or  breccia,  which  occurs  in  the  rock  of 
Gibraltar,  and  in  other  limestone  rocks  and  hilk  upon 
the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean. 

This  breccia  occurs  in  a  gray-coloured  compact  dis- 
tinctly stratified  floetz  limestone,  which  abounds  in  the 
Islands  and  on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  not 
intermixed  with  the  limestone,  nor  does  it  alternate  with 
it  in  beds,  but  occurs  filling  up  fissures,  or  in  caves  si- 
tuated in  it.  It  is  composed  of  angular  fragments  of  the 
limestone,  of  bones,  usually  of  ruminating  animals,  ge- 
nerally broken,  and  never  in  skeletons,  and  land  shells, 
cemented  together  by  a  reddish  brown  coloured  ochry 
^alcarious  basis.  The  base  is  sometimes  vesicular,  and 


268  O.SbEOLS  BRECCIA, 

the  vesicles  are  more  or  less  completely  filled  with  calca- 
rious  spar ;  and  the  spar  sometimes  traverses  the  con- 
glomerate in  the  form  of  veins,  or  is  more  or  less  inter- 
mixed with  it.  Cuvier  describes  the  osseous  breccia  of 
different;  tracts  of  country  in  the  following  order : — 

1.  Gibraltar. — The  mineralogical  nature  of  this  famous 
rock  is  well  known,  from  the  excellent  description  of  it 
by  our  countryman  Colonel  Imrie.  It  is  principally  com- 
posed of  limestone,  and  is  frequently   traversed  by  fis- 
sures, or  hollowed  into  caves,  in  which  the  osseous  brec- 
cia is  contained.     Cuvier  found  in  it  the  bones  of  a  ru- 
minating animal  allied  to  the  antelope,  and  of  a  smaller 
animal  of  the  order  glires,  which  he  conjectures  maybe- 
long  to  the  genus  lagomys.     All  the  shells  contained  in 
the  breccia  are  fresh  water  or  land  species. 

2.  Cette. — The  breccia  in  this  tract,  like  that  of  Gib- 
raltar, occurs  in  limestone.     In  it  Cuvier  found  bones  of 
an  animal  not  unlike  the  common  rabbit;  others  of  a 
species   one-third    less   than    the  common    rabbit;  also 
bones  of  a  species  of  mus,  nearly  allied  to  the  field-mouse 
(mus  arvalis,  Lin.) ;  of  a  bird  of  the  order  passeres  ;  nu- 
merous vertebras  of  a  serpent  somewhat  resembling  the 
coluber  natrix  ;  lastly,  bones  of  a  ruminating  animal,  pro- 
bably of  the  same  species  as  that  found  in  the  breccia  of 
Gibraltar.     Shells  also  occur.    Three  kinds  are  mention- 
ed, viz.  two  helices,  and  one  pupa,  and  all  of  them  land- 
shells. 

3.  Nice  and  Antibes. — The  limestone  rocks  of  Nice  con- 
tain this  osseous  breccia.     Cuvier  found  in  it  bones  of 
the  horse,  and  of  two  species  of  ruminating  animals.    All 
the  shells  it   contains    are  land    species.      The  lime- 


OSSEOUS  BRECCIA.  269 

stone  rocks  of  Antibes,  near  Nice,  also  costain  os- 
seous breccia,  in  which  Cuvier  found  remains  of  rumi- 
nating animals,  apparently  the  same  as  those  of  Nice. 

4.  Corsica. — The  limestone  rocks  containing  the  osse- 
ous breccia^occur  near  Bastia,  and  agree  in  all  their  cha- 
racters with  that  of  Gibraltar.     The  osseous  remains  are 
principally  of  smaller  quadrupeds,  but  they  do  not,  like 
those  of  Cette,  belong  to  species  now  living  in  the  sur- 
rounding country ;  for  Cuvier  discovered  there  the  head 
of  an  animal   nearly  resembling  the   lagomys  alpinus,  a 
species  which  inhabits  the  wildest  and  most  mountainous 
regions  of  Siberia,  immediately  under  the  snow  line.  He 
also  found  enormous  quantities  of  the  bones  of  a  species 
of  gnawer,  somewhat  resembling  the  mus  terrestris  of 
Linnaeus,  and  of  another  very  nearly  allied  to  the  water- 
rat. 

5.  Dalmatia. — The  breccia  is  found  throughout  a  great 
extent  of  limestone  country.     It  agrees  perfectly  in  its 
characters  with  that  of  Gibraltar.     All  the  bones  it  con- 
tains, as  far  as  Cuvier  had  an  opportunity  of  examining, 
appear  to  be  of  the  same  size  as  those  of  the  fallow-deer, 
and  perhaps  belong  to  the  animal  whose  remains   are 
found  at  Gibraltar.    The  remains  of  the  horse  have  also 
been  found  in  the  breccia  of  this  district ;  for  the  late 
John  Hunter  found  the  os  hyoides  of  that  animal  in  some 
masses  of  conglomerate  from  Dalmatia. 

6.  Island  of  Ccrigo. — The  only  descriptions  we  have  of 
this  breccia,  are  those  of  Spallanzani  and  Fortis,  from 
which  it  appears  that  it  possesses  the  same  characters  as 
that  of  Gibraltar,  &c.     Spallanzani  was  of  opinion  that 
the  bones  belonged  to  the  human  species.     Many  years 


OSSEOUS    BRECCIA. 

ago  Blumenbach  refuted  this  opinion,  and  Cuvier  shows 
that  all  of  them  belong  to  ruminating;  animals. 

7.  Concudy  near  Teruel  in  Arragon. — Bowles,  in  his  Na- 
tural History  of  Spain,  describes  limestone  rt>cks,  con- 
taining an  osseous  breccia,  as  occurring  at  Concud.  Cu- 
vier is  of  opinion  that  it  belongs  to  the  same  formation 
as  that  of  Gibraltar.  It  contains  bones  of  the  ox,  ass,  of 
a  small  kind  of  sheep,  and  many  terrestrial  and  fresh  wa- 
ter shells. 

8»  Osseous  Incrustations  in  the  Vicentim  and  Veronese.— 
The  natural  history  of  these  incrustations,  or  conglome- 
rates, is  still  very  imperfect.  Cuvier  found  in  them  bones 
of  the  stag  and  ox. 

Cuvier  finishes  his  description  of  this  osseous  conglo- 
merate, or  breccia,  with  the  following  observations  : 

1.  The  osseous  breccias  have  not  be  formed  by  either 
a  tranquil  sea,  or  by  a  sudden  irruption  of  the  sea.  2. 
They  are  even  posterior  to  the  last  resting  of  the  sea  on 
our  continent,  since  no  traces  are  found  in  them  of  any 
sea-shells,  and  they  are  not  covered  by  other  beds.  3. 
The  bones  and  the  fragments  of  rock  which  they  contain, 
fell  into  the  rents  of  the  rocks  successively,  and  as  they 
fell  became  united  together  by  the  accumulation  of  the 
sparry  matter-  4.  Almost  all  the  fragments  contained  in 
the  fissures  are  portions  of  the  bounding  rock.  5.  All  the 
well-ascertained  bones  belong  to  herbivorous  animals. 
6.  The  greater  number  belong  to  known  animals,  and  to 
species  that  at  present  live  in  the  neighbouring  country. 
T.  The  formation  of  these  breccias,  therefore,  appears  to 
be  modern,  in  comparison  of  the  floetz  rocks,  and  the  allu- 
vk.1  strata,  that  contain  remains  of  unknown  land  animate 


MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  PARIS.          27 1 

8.  It  is  nevertheless  still  ancient,  with  respect  to  us,  since 
nothing  shows  that  such  breccias  are  formed  at  the  pre- 
sent day  ;  and  some  of  them,  as  those  of  Corsica,  contain 
also  the  remains  of  unknown  animals.  9.  The  most  essen- 
tial character  of  this  phenomenon  consists  more  in  the  fa- 
cility with  which  certain  rocks  have  been  split,  than  the 
matters  contained  in  the  fissures.  10.  This  phenomenon 
is  very  different  from  that  exhibited  by  the  caverns  in 
Germany,  which  contain  the  bones  of  carnivorous  ani- 
mals only,  spread  over  the  bottom,  in  an  earthy  tuff,  part- 
ly of  an  animal  and  partly  of  a  mineral  nature ;  although 
the  rocks  in  which  these  caverns  are  situated  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  very  different  from  those  which  contain  the 
osseous  brecciae. 

NOTE  K  (B.)     §  28.  p.  103. 

Mineralogical  Description  of  the  Country  around  Paris. 

As  the  very  short  account  of  the  mineralogy  of  the 
country  around  Paris,  in  Note  K  (A),  may  not  prove  sa- 
tisfactory to  those  who  wish  a  more  particular  detail,  we 
here  insert  a  description,  which,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
plate,  (Plate  IV.)  will,  we  trust,  enable  the  reader  to  form 
a  distinct  conception  of  all  the  important  features  of  that 
remarkable  district.* 

The  country  in  the  environs  of  Paris  is  entirely  com- 
posed of  newer  floetz  rocks,  of  which  the  oldest,  or  low- 
est, is  common  chalk ;  the  uppermost,  or  newest,  alluvial. 
Interposed  between  these  are  nine  different  formation?, 
principally  of  limestone,  sandstone,  and  gypsum.  The 
whole  series  of  formations,  according  to  Cuvier  and 

*  The  description  is  drawn  up  in  conformity  with  the  observations 
of  Cuvier  and  Brongniart,  in  their  valuable 'work,  entitled"  Essaisirr 
la  Geographic  Mineralogique  des  Environs  de  Paris."  4to.  1811. 


272      MINERALOGY    OF    THE    ENVIRONS    OF    PARIS. 

Brongniart,  appear  to  be  arranged  in  the  following  order, 
from  below  upwards. 

1.  The  chalk  formation,  with  flint. 

2.  Plastic  clay,  with  sand  (argile  plastique.) 

3.  Coarse  marine  limestone  (calcaire  grassier),  with  its 
marine  sandstone  (gres  marine  inferieur.) 

4.  Siliceous  limestone  (calcaire  silicieux). 

5.  Gypsum  and  marl,  containing   bones   of    animals 
(marnes  du  gypse  d'ossements.) 

6.  Marine  marl,  abounding  in  bivalve  shells  ;  and  the 
upper  layers,  abounding  in  oyster  shells. 

7.  Sandstone  and  sand,  without  shells. 

8.  Upper  marine  sandstone  (gres  marine  superieur.) 

9.  Millstone,  or  buhrstone,  without  shells  (meuliere  sans 
coquilles.) 

10.  Flint  and  siliceous  limestone  or  the  upper  or  se- 
cond fresh  water  formation,  millstone,  flint,  and  limestone 
(terrein  d'eau  douce  superieur ,  meuliere,  silex,  et  calcaire.) 

11.  Older  and  newer  alluvial  deposites  (Limon  d'atter- 
rissement.) 


FIRST  FORMATION. 

Marine  Origin. 

Chalk. 

This  chalk  agrees,  in  external  characters,  with  that 
found  in  other  countries.  It  occurs  in  indistinct  hori- 
zontal strata,  in  which  we  observe  either  interrupted  lay- 
ers or  tuberose  shaped  masses  of  flint,  which  pass  into  the 
chalk  at  their  line  of  junction,  or  kidneys  of  hard  chalk, 
having  the  same  shape  and  position  with  the  flint.  This 
formation  is  well  characterized  by  the  petrifactions  it  con- 
tains, which  differ  not  only  in  the  species,  but  sometime? 


PLASTIC  CLAY  FORMATION. 

also  in  the  ge.nus,  from  those  that  occur  in  the  coarse  lime- 
stone- Two  species  of  belemnite  occur  in  the  chalk,  and 
these  appear  to  be  different  from  those  found  in  the  lime- 
stone, and  are  considered  to  characterize  it. 

The  chalk  forms  the  bottom  of  the  basin  or  gul£  in 
which  are  deposited  tjie  different  formations  that  occur 
around  Paris.  Its  surface  must  have  presented  numerous 
inequalities  before  the  present  strata  were  deposited  over 
it,  because  we  observe  promontories  and  islands  of  chalk 
rising  through  the  newer  formations. 


SECOND  FORMATION. 

Fresh  water  Origin.* 

Plastic  Clay. 

All  around  Paris,  we  find  the  chalk  covered  with  a  de- 
posite  of  plastic  clay,  which  is  dug  and  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  different  kinds  of  pottery.  This  clay  varies  in 
colour,  being  white,  gray,  yellow,  red,  and  black,  some- 
times contains  a  layer  of  sand,  very  rarely  (only  the 
purer  varieties)  organic  remains,  viz.  cytherea,  turtellae, 
bituminous  wood,  and  in  some  places  fragments  of  chalk 
have  been  observed  in  it.  It  is  neither  intermixed  with 
the  chalk  at  its  line  of  junction  with  it,  nor  is  it  more 
calcarious  where  in  contact  with  that  mineral,  than 
at  a  distance  from  it ;  hence  Cuvier  conjectures,  that  it 
has  been  deposited  after  the  chalk,  and  is  therefore  a  se- 
parate formation. 


*  I  designate  the  formationsyresTi  water  and  marine,  according  to  the 
idea  of  Cuvier  and  Brongniart ;  although  I  do  not  agree  with  these 
philosophers  in  their  opinion  of  the  alternate  play  of  salt  and  fresh 
water. 

35 


274      MINERALOGY   OP   THE  ENVIRONS   OF   PARIS* 


THIRD  FORMATION.- 

Marine  Origin. 

Coarse  Marine  Limestone,  with  its  Marine  Sandstone. 
This  formation  presents  much  greater  variety  than  the 
chalk.  Several  different  strata,  or  series  of  strata,  sucli 
as  limestone,  clay-marl,  limestone-marl,  slate-clay,  occur 
in  it.  These  are  arranged  in  a  determinate  order,  and 
the  strata  of  limestone  are  well  characterized  by  their  ge- 
ognostic  characters  and  by  the  petrifactions  they  contain ; 
the  same  system  of  strata  always  possessing  the  same  gene- 
ral characters  and  species  of  petrifactions. 

First  System  of  Strata. 

The  lowest  system  of  strata,  or  first  system  of  strata,  of 
the  coarse  limestone  formation,  is  very  sandy,  and  some- 
times contains  a  substance  resembling  green  earth  ;  it  is 
still  better  characterized  by  containing  a  great  variety  of 
well  preserved  shells,  many  of  which  still  retain  the 
pearly  lustre,  and  differ  more  from  the  present  existing 
species,  than  those  in  the  upper  strata  of  this  formation.  It 
is  particularly  characterized  by  the  nummulites  it  con* 
tains. 

The  following  are  the  petrifactions  enumerated  byCu- 
vier  and  Brongniart,  as  occurring  in  it. 

Nummulites  lasvigata          } 

,  f  These  are  always  found  in 

numismalis      $      the  lowest  part  of  the  bed. 
Madrepora — At  least  three  species. 
Astraea — Three  species  at  least. 
Carophyllia — Three  simple,  and  one  branched  species. 
Fungites. 


MARINE   LIMESTONE   FORMATION. 

Cerithum  giganteum. 
Lucina  lamellosa. 
Cardiura  porulosum. 
Voluta  cithara. 
Crassatella  lamellosa. 
Turritella  multisulcata. 
Ostrea  flabellula. 
Cymbula. 

Second  System  of  Strata. 

The  limestone  of  these  strata  is  of  a  grayish  yellow  co- 
lour, is  in  part  oolitic,  or  composed  of  small  roundish 
grains,  and  contains  remarkable  cotemporaneous  cavi- 
ties, that  traverse  the  strata,  and  which  are  filled  with 
loam,  sand,  and  flint.  It  is  still  very  rich  in  shells ; 
nearly  all  the  bivalves  found  by  M.  Defrance  at  Grignon 
belong  to  it.  It  also  contains  a  few  impressions  of 
leaves  and  stems  of  vegetables,  and  single  fresh-water 
shells.  The  most  characteristic  petrifactions  of  this  sysr 
tern  of  strata  are  the  following. 

Cardita  avicularia. 

Orbitolites  plana. 

Turritella  imbricata. 

Terebellum  convolutum. 

Calyptrasa  trochiformis. 

Pectunculus  pulvinatus. 

Citheraea  nitidula. 
elegans. 

Miliolites — It  is  very  abundant. 

Cerithium — Probably  several  species ;  but  neither  the 
lapidum  and  petricolum,  nor  cinctum  and 
plicatum,  which  latter  belong  to  the  second 
marine  formation  which  covers  the  gypsum. 


276        MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OP  PARIS. 

Of  these  petrifactions,  the  most  characteristic  is  the 
eerites. 

Third  System  of  Strata.* . 

The  third  system  of  strata  is  already  less  abundant  in 
petrifactions,  and  contains  fewer  species  than  the  two 
preceding.  The  following  have  been  observed. 

Miliolites — Very  rare. 
Cardium  Lima,  et  obliquum, 
Lucina  saxorum. 
Ampullaria  spirata. 

Cerithium  tuberculatum.  }    . 

...  I  Almost  all  the  other  species, 

mutabile. 

...  >      with  exception  of  the  gi- 

lapidum.  1 

\      ganteum. 
petncolum. 

Corbula  anatina  ? 

striata. 
Also  impressions  of  the  leaves  of  a  fucus. 

The  strata  of  the  second  and  third  systems  sometimes 
contain  beds  of  sandstone,  or  masses  of  hornstone  filled 
with  marine  shells.  Tn  some  cases  the  sandstone  takes 
the  place  of  the  limestone.  Land  shells  and  fresh-water 
shells  (Limncea  et  Cyclostomce)  have  also  been  observed  in 
this  sandstone.  The  sandstone  and  the  hornstone,  con- 
taining marine  shells,  rest  either  immediately  on  the  ma- 
rine limestone,  or  are  contained  in  it.  The  following 
list  contains  the  names  of  those  species  of  petrifactions 
which  occur  most  frequently  in  the  sandstone. 

Calyptraea  trochiformis  ? 
Oliva  laumontiana. 

*  This  is  the  limestone  used  for  building  at  Paris. 


MARINE  LIMESTONE  FORMATION.  277 

Ancilla  canalifera. 
Voluta  harpula. 
Fusis  bulbiformis. 
Cerithium  serratum. 

tuberculosum. 

coronatum. 

lapidum. 

mtitabile. 
Ampullaria  acuta,  or  spirati. 

patula. 

Nucula  deltoidea. 
Cardiura  lima. 
Venericardia  imbricata. 
Cytherea  nitidula. 

elegans. 

teilinaria. 
Venus  callosa  ? 
Lucina  circinaria. 
saxorum. 

Two  species  of  oyster  still  undetermined ;  the  one  ap- 
pears allied  to  ostrea  deltoidea,  the  other  to  ostrea  cym- 
bula. 

Fourth  System  of  Strata. 

This  set  of  strata  consists  of  hard  calcarious  marl,  soft 
calcarious  marl,  clayey  marl,  and  calcarious  sand,  which 
is  sometimes  agglutinated,  and  contains  horizontal  layers 
of  hornstone,  crystals  of  quarte,  and  rhomboidal  crystals 
of  calcarious  spar,  and  small  cubical  crystals  of  fluor  spar. 
Petrifactions  occur  very  rarely. 

FOURTH  FORMATION. 

Siliceous  Limestone  without  Shells. 
This  formation   occurs  alongside  the   coarse  marine 
limestone,  on  the  same  level  with  it,  and  in  no  instance 


278    MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OP  PARIS. 

either  above  or  below  it.  It  rests  immediately  on  the 
plastic  clay.  It  consists  of  strata,  not  only  of  a  white 
limestone,  but  also  of  a  gray,  compact,  or  fine  granular 
limestone,  which  is  penetrated  in  all  directions  with  sili- 
ca ;  and  its  numerous  cavities  are  lined  with  siliceous 
stalactites,  or  quartz  crystals.  It  is  destitute  of  petrifac- 
tions. A  species  of  millstone  sometimes  occurs  in  it,  which 
appears  to  be  the  siliceous  limestone  deprived  of  its  cal- 
carious  ingredient  by  some  agent  unknown  to  us.  This 
rock  is  scarcely  entitled  to  the  rank  of  a  distinct  forma- 
tion :  it  appears  to  be  one  of  the  members  of  the  pre- 
ceding series  without  petrifactions.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  observe  in  the  same  forma- 
tion beds  with  and  without  petrifactions. 

FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  FORMATIONS. 

Fresh  Water  and  Marine  Origin- 
Gypsum  Formation,  and  the  Marine  Marl  Formation* 
This  formation  is  not  entirely  of  gypsum,  but  contains 
also  beds  of  clay  marl  and  calcarious  marl.  These  are  ar- 
ranged in  a  determinate  order  when  they  all  occur  together, 
which,  however,  is  not  always  the  case.  They  lie  over  the 
coarse  marine  limestone  ;  and  the  gypsum,  which  is  the 
principal  mass  of  the  formation,  does  not  occur  in  wide 
extended  plateaus,  like  the  limestone,  but  in  single  conical 
or  longish  masses,  which  are  sometimes  of  considerable 
extent,  but  always  sharply  bounded.  Montmartre  presents 
the  best  example  of  the  whole  members  of  the  formation, 
and  there  three  beds  of  gypsum  are  to  be  observed  su- 
perimposed on  each  other. 

,,  .    ..  ,,    -  .3  ,i.£*\ r< ''    ;j        ;  "^5*/'7  - 

The  first  bed  consists  of  alternate  layers  of  gypsum 
solid  caicarious  marl,  and  of  thin  slaty  argillaceous  marl 
or  adhesive  slate.  The  layers  of  gypsum  are  thin,  and 


MARINE  MARL  FORMATION.  279 

full  ofselenite  crystals;  and  in  the  clay  marl  or  adhesive 
slate,  occurs  imbedded  menilite.  Marine  shells  occur  in 
several  of  the  layers  of  the  marl,  and  it  is  remarked  that 
wherever  the  gypsum  rests  immediately  on  the  sand  of 
the  marine  sandstone  containing  shells,  it  contains  sea 
shells.  The  former  bottom  of  the  sea,  however,  appears 
to  have  been  frequently  covered  with  a  bed  of  white 
marl,  on  which  the  lower  beds  of  gypsum  rest,  and  this 
bed  is  filled  with  fresh-water  shells.  The  second  bed  re- 
sembles the  first,  and  only  differs  from  it  in  being  thicker, 
and  containing  fewer  beds  of  marl.  The  only  petrifac- 
tions it  contains  are  those  of  fishes  ;  but  it  encloses  masses 
of  celestine,  or  sulphat  of  strontian.  The  third,  or  upper 
bed,  is  by  far  the  greatest,  being  in  several  places  more 
than  sixty  feet  thick.  It  contains  few  beds  of  marl ;  and 
in  some  places,  as  at  Montmorency,  it  lies  almost  immedi- 
ately under  the  soil.  The  lower  strata  of  this  upper  gyp- 
sum contain  flint,  which  appears  to  be  intermixed  with 
it,  and  to  pass  into  it  by  imperceptible  gradations — facts 
which  show  their  cotemporaneous  formation.  The 
middle  strata  of  this  bed  split  naturally  into  large  prisma- 
tic concretions,  with  many  sides.  The  uppermost  strata, 
of  which  five  generally  occur,  and  extend  to  a  great  dis- 
tance, are  thinner  than  the  others,  and  are  intermixed  with 
marl,  and  also  alternate  with  beds  of  it. 

Numerous  quarries  are  situated  in  this  upper  gypsum, 
and  which  daily  afford  skeletons,  or  single  bones  of  un- 
known birds  and  quadrupeds.  To  the  north  of  Paris 
these  are  found  in  gypsum  itself,  where  they  are  hard, 
and  simply  invested  with  marl ;  and  to  the  south  of  Paris 
similar  remains,  but  in  a  friable  state,  are  met  with  in 
the  marl  which  separates  the  beds  of  gypsum.  Bones  of 
tortoises,  and  skeletons  of  fish,  are  found  in  the  same 
feed,  and  more  rarely  fresh-water  shells  of  the  genus  cy- 


280        MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  PARIS. 

clostoma.  This  latter  fact,  Cuvier  remarks,  shows  the 
plausibility  of  the  opinion  of  Lamanon,  and  other  natura- 
lists, who  maintain,  that  the  gypsums  of  Montmartre,  and 
other  hills  in  the  basin  of  Paris,  have  been  deposited  from 
fresh-water  lakes.  The  occurrence  of  skeletons  of  quad- 
rupeds particularly  characterizes  the  upper  bed  of  gyp- 
snm,  because  remains  of  the  same  nature  have  not  hi- 
therto been  discovered  in  the  middle  or  lower  beds  of 
gypsum. 

Beds  of  calcarious  and  clayey  marl  rest  immediately 
over  the  gypsum.  Woodstone,  or  petrified  wood  of  a 
kind  of  palm  tree,  occurs  in  a  white  friable  chalky  marl ; 
and  in  quarries  which  are  worked  in  it,  remains  of  fishes 
and  of  shells,  of  the  genera  lymnasus,  and  planorbis,  are 
met  with.  The  two  latter  do  not  differ  very  much  from 
those  found  in  the  marshes  in  France, — a  fact  which 
seems,  in  the  opinion  of  Cuvier,  to  show,  that  this  marl, 
as  well  as  the  subjacent  gypsum,  have  been  deposited 
from  fresh  water.  In  the  numerous  and  thick  beds  of 
clayey  and  calcarious  marl  which  rest  over  this  white 
friable  chalky  marl,  petrifactions  are  so  rare,  that  we 
cannot  form  any  satisfactory  opinion  as  to  their  forma- 
tion. 

Over  the  beds  of  clayey  and  calcarious  marl  there  rests 
a  bed  of  yellowish  slaty  marl,  three  feet  three  inches 
thick.  Kidneys  of  earthy  calestine  occur  in  the  lower 
part  of  it ;  somewhat  higher  up  we  meet  with  a  bed  of 
small  bivalve  shells,  which  are  referred  to  the  genus 
Citherea,  and  between  the  uppermost  layers  of  the  marl 
other  species  of  citherea,  with  cerites  spirobites,  and 
bones  of  fish,  occur.  This  bed  is  not  only  remarkable 
on  account  of  its  great  extent,  (it  has  been  traced  ten 
leagues  in  one  direction,  and  four  leagues  in  another. 


MARINE  MARL  FORMATION.  281 

•and  throughout  its  whole  extent  of  the  same  thickness), 
but  also  because  it  is  considered  as  marking  the  upper 
boundary  of  the  first  fresh  water  formation,  and  the  be- 
ginning of  a  neAV  marine  formation.  All  the  shells  that 
occur  in  the  niarl  above  this  bed  belong  to  the  ocean. 

A  great  bed  of  greenish  clayey  marl,  without  petrifac- 
tions, rests  immediately  over  the  yellowish  marl,  and 
contains  kidneys  of  clayey  calcarious  marl,  and  also  of 
celestine.  Immediately  over  these  follows  a  bed  of  yel- 
low clay-marl,  which  abounds  in  fragments  of  marine 
bivalve  shells,  cerites,  trochites,  mactrites,  cardites,  ve- 
nites,  &c.  and  fragments  of  the  tail  of  two  species  of  ray 
have  also  been  found  in  it. 

The  beds  of  marl  which  rest  over  these  contain  princi- 
pally bivalve  marine  shells ;  and  in  the  uppermost  bed 
of  calcarious  marl,  immediately  under  the  clayey  sand, 
there  occur  two  distinct  beds  of. oysters,  of  which  the  un- 
dermost contains  large  and  thick  oysters,  and  the  upper, 
which  is  sometimes  separated  from  the  under  by  a  thin 
bed  of  white  marl,  without  shells,  numerous,  small,  thin, 
and  brown  oyster  shells.  This  latter  bed  of  oysters  is 
very  thick,  is  divided  into  many  layers,  and  is  scarcely 
ever  wanting  in  the  hills  of  gypsum. 

These  oysters  appear  to  have  lived  on  the  spot  where 
we  at  present  find  them,  because  they  are  arranged  as  we 
find  them  in  oyster-banks  in  the  ocean;  and  the  greater 
number  of  them  are  whole,  and  with  both  valves. 
Lastly,  M.  Defrance  found,  near  Roquencourt,  at  the 
height  of  the  formation  of  the  marine  gypseous  marl, 
rounded  fragments  of  marly  shell  limestone,  pierced  with 
:|)holades.  and  with  oyster  shells  attached  to  them.  The 

36 


282 


MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OP  PARIS. 


formations  sometimes  terminate  with  a  bed  of  clayey 
iand,  in  which  no  petrifactions  occur. 

The  whole  of  the  beds,  from  the  layer  immediately 
over  the  marine  limestone,  to  that  containing  the  oysters, 
constitute  the  gypsum  formation.  Guvier  considers  them 
as  constituting  two  formations,  viz.  the  gypsum  and  ma- 
rine marl  formations.  It  is,  however,  evident  that  all  the 
beds  belong  to  one  formation,  because  they  exhibit  all 
those  relations  which  occur  in  sets  of  strata,  considered 
as  belonging  to  the  same  formation. 

In  the  following  Table  are  enumerated  the  petrifac- 
tions that  belong  to  the  gypsum,  and  to  the  marine  for- 
mation which  rests  on  it. 


GYPSUM  AND  MARINE  MARL  FORMATIONS.         283 

Petrifactions  of  the  Gypsum  and  the  Marine  Marl  resting 

upon  it. 

FRESH  WATER  FORMATION. 

Palaeotherium  magnum, 
medium, 
crassum. 
curtum. 


Fossil  quadrupeds 
in  gypsum 


Birds  - 


Reptiles   -    -    - 


Fishes 


minus. 
Anoplotherium  commune. 

secundarium, 

medium. 

minus. 


minimum. 
A  pachidermatous  animal,  allied  to 

the  hog. 

Canis  Parisiensis. 
Didelphis  Parisiensis. 
^Viverra  Parisiensis. 

-  Three  or  four  species. 

f  Trionix  Parisiensis,    and  another 
J      tortoise. 

j  A  species  of  saurius,  which  appears 
^     to  be  a  crocodile. 

-  Three  or  four  species. 
Molluscous  animals     Cyclostoma  mumia. 

rPalms. 

Upper  white  marl   J  Fragments  of  fishes, 
j  Limneus. 
l^Planorbes. 


Slaty  yellow 
__i          > 


marl, 


MARINE  FORMATION. 

The  shells  of  these 
petrifactions     are 


Cytheree  bombee. 
Spirobes 


Bones  of  fishes. 
Cerithium  plicatum, 
Cytheree  planes. 
Bones  of  fish. 


generally  in  a 
powdery  state,  or 
we  have  only  their 
mould  or  impres- 
sion. 


MINERALOGY  OP  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  PARIS- 


Green  marl.        No  fish. 


Yellow 

[  marl,  mix- 
ed with 
brown 
slaty  marl. 


Parts  of  the  ray. 
Ampullaria  patula? 
Cerithium  plicatum. 
cinctum. 
Cytherea  elegens. 

semisulata. 
Cardium  obliquum. 
Nacula  margaritacea. 


Calcarious 
marl,  con- 
taining 
large    oy- 
sters. 


Ostrea  hippopus. 

pseudochama. 

longirostris. 

canalis. 


Calcari6us 
marl,  con- 
taining 
small    oy- 
sters* 


Ostrea  cochlearia. 

cyathula. 

spatulata. 

linguatula. 
Ballanites. 
Shells  of  crabs. 


Almost  all  these 
shells  are  broken, 
and  difficult  to  as- 
certain. The  two 
species  of  cerites 
>•  of  the  marine  for- 
mation, which  co- 
vers the  gypsum, 
do  not  appear  to 
occur  any  where 
else. 

The  two  beds  of  oy° 
sters  are  often  se- 
parated from  each 
other  by  marl  with- 
out shells;  and  al- 
though we  cannot 
say  with  any  cer- 
tainty whether  or 
not  the  particular 
species  here  enu- 
merated are  shells 
that  belong  more 
to  the  one  bed 
than  to  the  other; 
yet  it  cannot  be 
doubted,  that  the 
oysters  of  this  marl 
do  not  occur  in 
the  coarse  lime- 
stone, and  that 
they  are  more 
nearly  allied  to  the 
species  at  present 
living  in  our  seas, 
than  to  those  found 
in  the  limestone. 


UPPER  MARINE  SANDSTONE  AND  SAND. 


SEVENTH  FORMATION. 

Of  Sandstone  and  Sand  zcithout  Shells. 
The  sandstone  with  shells  is  one  of  the  latest  forma- 
tions. It  always  rests  on  those  already  described,  and  in 
general  is  only  covered  with  the  millstone  without  shells, 
and  the  upper  fresh  water  formation.*  Its  strata  are 
often  of  considerable  thickness,  are  intermixed  with  beds 
of  sand  of  the  same  nature,  and  both  are  often  so  fine 
that  they  are  used  in  manufactories. 

EIGHTH  FORMATION. 
Marine  Origin. 

Upper  Marine  Sandstone  and  Sand. 
This  sandstone^  or  last  marine  formation,  rests  on  the 
gypsum,  marine  maft^TETiTl  PHjtt.upon.the  sandstone  and 


sand  without  shells.  It  varies  in  colour,  compactness, 
and  even  in  composition.  Sometimes  it  is  a  pure  sand- 
stone, but  friable,  and  of  a  red  colour,  as  at  Montmartre  : 
sometimes  it  is  a  red  coloured  clayey  sandstone,  as  at 
Romainville  ;  sometimes  it  is  a  grayish  sandstone,  as  at 
Levignan  ;  lastly,  its  place  is  occasionally  occupied  with 
a  thin  bed  of  calcarious  sand  filled  with  shells,  which 
covers  the  great  masses  of  gray,  hard  sandstone,  and 
without  shells,  at  Nanteiulle-Haudouin. 

This  sandstone  contains  marine  shells,  which  are  some- 
times different  from  those  found  in  the  sandstone  of  the 
lower  marine  formation,  and  approach  more  to  the  spe- 
cies met  with  in  the  calcarious  marl,  which  surmounts 

*  It  appears,  as  we  shall  afterwards  show,  that  'it  is  in  some  places 
covered  by  a  formation  of  marine  sandstone  or  limestone. 


•  - 


286         MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OP  PARIS. 

the  gypsum,  as  will  appear  from  the  following  enumera- 
tion. 

Shells  found  in  the  Upper  Marine  Sandstone* 
Oliva  mitriola. 
Fussus  ?  allied  to  longasvus. 
Cerithium  cristatum. 
lamellosum. 
mutabile  ? 

Solarium  ?     Lam.  PI.  viii.  fig.  7. 
Melania  costellata  ? 
Melania? 

Pectuneulus  pulvinatus. 
Crassatella  compressa. 
Donax  retusa? 
Citherea  nitidula. 

laevigata. 

elegans  ? 
Corbula  rugosa. 
Ostrea  flabellula. 

This  formation,  and  the  one  preceding  it,  although 
arranged  by  Cuvier  and  Brongniart  as  distinct  forma- 
tions, are  evidently  members  of  one  and  the  same  forma- 
tion. 

NINTH  FORMATION. 
'•.„#&':: ••'.-,•     '&•-.&:*:    ^;.  ^J^^r^^U  %** 

Millstone  without  Shells. 

This  formation  consists  of  iron-shot  clayey  sand,  green- 
ish, reddish,  and  whitish  clay  marl,  and  millstone  ;  and  al- 
though separated  by  Cuvier  from  the  flint  and  siliceous 
limestone  formation,  appears  to  be  a  member  of  that  se- 
ries. This  millstone  is  a  quartz,  containing  a  multitude 
of  irregular  cavities  which  are  traversed  by  siliceous 


SECOND  FORMATION.  2#7 

iibres,  disposed  somewhat  like  the  reticular  texture  in 
bones.  These  cavities  are  sometimes  lined  or  filled  with 
red  ochre,  clay  marl,  or  clayey  sand,  and  they  have  no 
communication  with  each  other.  Most  of  the  millstones 
found  around  Paris  have  a  red  or  yellowish  tint,  but  the 
rarer  and  most  esteemed  varieties  have  a  bluish  shade  of 
colour.  The  bluish  variety  is  the  most  highly  prized, 
because  it  affords  the  whitest  coloured  flour;  and  a  mill- 
stone of  this  kind,  six  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter,  sells  at 
1200  francs.  We  never  observe  ID 'its  cavities  any  silice 
ous  stalactites,  orcry  stallized  quartz  ;  and  this  character 
enables  us  to  distinguish,  in  hand  specimens,  this  millstone 
from  that  found  in  the  siliceous  limestone.  It  is  some- 
times compact.  It  has  been  analyzed  by  Hecht  in  the 
Journal  des  Mines,  No.  xxii.  p.  333,  and  appears  to  be 
almost  entirely  composed  of  silicea.  Another  geognos- 
tic  character  of  the  millstone,  properly  so  called,  is  the 
absence  of  all  fossil  animal  and  vegetable  productions, 
whether  of  fresh  or  salt  water  origin. 

It  often  rests  on  a  bed  of  clay  marl,  which  appears  to 
belong  to  the  gypsum  formation ;  in  some  places  it  is 
separated  from  it  by  a  bed  varying  in  thickness,  of  sand- 
stone or  sand  without  shells.  It  is  sometimes  imme- 
diately covered  with  vegetable  earth,  but  in  other  in- 
stances it  has  resting  on  it  the  upper  fresh  water  forma- 
tion, or  the  alluvial  formation.^ 

*  The  most  extensive  mass  of  this  millstone  occurs  in  the  plateau 
which  extends  from  La  Ferte  sous  Jouarre  (on  the  Marne,  16  leapies 
oast  from  Paris)  nearly  to  Montmirail ;  and  here,  near  the  first  town,  it 
has  been  quarried  upwards  of  four  hundred  years  for  the  excellent  mill- 
stones it  affords.  The  lower  part  of  the  plateau  is  marine  limestone  ; 
the  upper  part,  on  the  edges,  and  toward  the  Marne,  of  marl  and  gyp- 
sum ;  hut  in  the  middle,  of  an  iron-shot  and  clayey  sand,  which  forma 
a  bed  upwards  of  60  feet  thick.  The  millstone  occurs  in  this  great  bed 


MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  PARIS. 


TENTH  FORMATION. 
Fresh  water  Origin. 

TAe  Flint  and  Siliceous  Limestone  Formation. 

We  have  already  described  a  formation  which,  accord- 
ing to  Cuvier,  has  been  deposited  from  fresh  water,  be- 
cause the  fossil  animals  it  contains  are  analogous  to  those 
we  find  in  our  fresh  Crater  lakes.  This  formation,  which 
consists  of  gypsum  and  marl,  is  separated  from  another 
and  more  superficial  fresh  water  formation,  of  which  we 
are  now  to  give  an  account,  by  the  upper  marine  sand- 
stone already  described. 

The  second  fresh  water  formation,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Paris,  consists  of  two  sorts  of  stone,,  flint  and  siliceous 
limestone.  These  substances  sometimes  occur  indepen- 
dent of  each  other;  in  other  instances  they  are  intimately 
mixed  together.  The  nearly  pure  limestone  is  the  most 
common ;  the  next  in  frequency  is  a  mixture  of  flint  and 
iimestone  ;  but  large  masses  of  pure  flint  are  the  rarest. 


of  sand,  extends  nearly  throughout  the  whole  plateau,  and  varies  in  thick- 
ness from  three  to  five  fathoms ;  but  millstones  cannot  be  made  of  every 
portion  of  the  mass;  hence  we  must  not  expect  to  find  it  throughout 
the  whole  bed.  A  bed  of  rolled  masses  of  millstone,  about  a  foot  and 
half  thick,  lies  over  it ;  over  this  a  thin  bed  of  iron-shot  sand,  contain- 
ing smaller  pieces  of  millstone,  and  above  this  bed  is  one  of  sand,  from 
12  to  17  yards  thick.  If  the  stone  rings  when  struck  with  a  hammer, 
it  will  answer  for  large  millstones.  The  bed  never  affords  more  than 
three  millstones  in  the  direction  of  its  thickness.  It  frequently  hap- 
pens, that  the  fissures  allow  the  workmen  to  extract  the  masses  in  a 
perpendicular  direction,  and  these  are  the  best.  Millstones  are  formed 
Ijy  joining  many  of  these  parallelopipedal  pieces  together,  and  confin- 
ing the  whole  with  an  iron  hoop.  These  pieces  are  exported  frous 
Franco,  to  England  and  America. 


SECOND  FfcESH  WATER  FbR&ATiOtf.  289 

The  flint  is  sometimes  nearly  pure;  sometimes  approaches 
to  pitchstone  or  to  jasper  and  quartz;  and,  lastly,  it 
has  a  corroded  shape  when  it  has  all  the  characters  of  true 
millstone,  but  which  is  in  general  more  compact  than  the 
millstone  without  shells.  The  limestone  of  this  formation 
is  white  or  yellowishlgray  ;  sometimes  nearly  friable,  like 
marl  or  chalk;  sometimes  compact  and  solid,  with  a  fine 
grain  and  cdnchoidal  fracture :  the  concholdal  varieties 
are  rather  hard,  but  easily  broken  into  sharp-edged  frag- 
ments, somewhat  like  flint.  These  characters  apply  only 
to  the  limestone  near  Paris;  Tor, at  a  considerable  distance, 
the  limestone  occurs  very  compact,  of  a  grayish-brown  co- 
lour, and  which  readily  cuts  and  polishes.  The  limestone 
of  Mont-Abusar,  near  Orleans,  which  contains  bones  of 
the  Palaeotherium,  belongs  to  this  formation*  Even  the 
hardest  varieties  of  this  limestone^  after  exposure  to  the 
air  for  a  time,  soften ;  and  hence  it  is  used  as  a  marl  for 
manuring  the  ground.  All  the  varieties,  both  hard  and 
soft,  are  traversed  by  empty  vermicular  cavities,  whose 
walls  are  sometimes  of  a  pale  green  colour.  Where  the 
siliceous  minerals  and  the  limestone  are  intermixed,  the 
latter  is  always  corroded,  full  of  cavities,  and  its  irregu- 
lar cells  are  filled  with  calcarious  marl.  Tire  essential 
character  of  this  formation  is,  that  it  contains  fresh  water 
and  land  shells,  nearly  all  of  which  belong  to  genera  that 
now  live  in  our  morasses,  but  no  marine  shells ;  at  least 
in  such  places  as  are  distant  from  the  subjacent  marine 
formation.  The  following  is  a  list  of  those  fossil  organic 
remains  that  belong  particularly  to  the  upper  fresh  water 
formation. 

Cyclostoma  elegans  antiquum, 
Potamides  Lamarkii. 
Planorbis  rotundatus. 
cornu. 

37 


290   MINERALOGY  OF  THE  ENVIRONS  OF  PARIS* 

Planorbis  prevostinus. 
Limneus  corneus. 

fabulum. 

ventricosus. 

inflatus. 
Bulimus  pygmeus. 

terebra- 
Pupa  Defrancii. 
Helix  Lamani. 

Desmarestina. 

Dicotyledonous  wood,  petrified  with  silica. 
Stems  of  arundo  or  tipha. 
Articulated  stems,  resembling  the  thorn. 
Peniculated  ov.oidal  grains. 
Canaliculated  cylindrical  grains. 
Olive-shaped  bodies,  with  an  irregular  streaked  surface- 

The  potamides,  helicites,  and  limneus  corneus,  are  the 
petrifactions  that  most  frequently  characterize  this  second 
fresh  water  formation,,  and  the  cyclostoma  mumia  has 
never  been  found  in  it.  The  first  or  lowest  fresh  water 
formation,  on  the  contrary,  has  its  characteristic  petrifac- 
tions, the  cyclostoma  mumia,  and  Limneus  longiscatus, 
and  palludinus,  but  it  never  contains  potamides,  or  heli- 
cites.  It  is  remarkable  that  no  bivalve  shells  occur  in 
this  formation,  and  that  it  contains  numerous  small  round- 
ish groved  bodies  named  Gyrogonites,  whicjh  appear  to 
be  the  fruit  of  a  marsh  plant  of  the  Chara  tribe. 

This  second  fresh  water  formation  extends  for  thirty 
leagues  to  the  south  of  Paris,  and  has  also  been  met  with 
in  the  department  of  Cher,  Alliere,  Nievre,  Cantal,  Puy 
de  Dome,  Tarn,  Lot,  and  Garonne,  in  the  southeast  of 
France,  and  more  lately  the  same  interesting  formation 
has  been  discovered  in  the  Roman  states^  in  Tuscany,  and 


ALLUVIAL    FORMATIONS,  291 

in  the  vicinity  of  Ulm,  Mayence,  Silesia,  in  Estremadura, 
near  Burgos,  and  other  places  in  Spain. 

From  the  few  observations  we  have  made  in  the  course 
•of  our  enumeration  of  the  formations  of  Cuvier,  it  ap- 
pears that  some  of  his  distinctions  are  unnecessary,  and 
that  the  whole  of  the  formations  may  be  more  satisfac- 
torily arranged  in  the  following  manner :  1 .  Chalk.  2. 
Plastic  clay.  3.  Limestone.  4.  Gypsum.  5.  Sandstone. 
6.  Flint  and  siliceous  limestone.  The  names  salt  and 
fresh  water  formations  being  hypothetical,  ought  to  be 
abandoned,  and  others  expressive  of  some  of  the  charac- 
ters of  the  formation  adopted  in  their  stead, 

ELEVENTH  FORMATION. 

diluvial. 

This  appears  also  to  be  a  deposite  from  fresh  water. 
It  consists  of  sand  of  many  different  colours,  marl,  clay, 
and  even  of  mixtures  of  the  whole  three,  which  is  inter- 
mixed, and  coloured  brown  and  black  with  carbonaceous 
matter,  also  of  rolled  masses  of  different  kinds ;  and  what 
particularly  characterizes  it,  large  trunks  of  trees,  and 
bones  of  elephants,  oxen,  deer,  and  other  large  mamma- 
lia. Although  this  formation  is  new,  in  comparison*  of 
those  we  have  just  described,  yet  it  is  of  high  antiquity  in 
regard  to  man,  as  its  formation  extends  to  a  period  not 
far  removed  from  the  earliest  periods  of  our  history, 
when  the  earth  supported  vegetables  and  animals  dif- 
ferent from  those  that  at  present  live  in  these  or  any 
other  countries  on  the  globe.  The  alluvial  substances 
around  Paris  occur  in  two  different  situations,  viz.  first, 
in  the  present  valleys;  and,  secondly,  on  the  plains.  IB 
valleys  they  either  cover  the  bottom,  and  then  they  con- 
sist of  sand,  loam,  or  peat ;  or  they  form  in  them  wide 


292      MINERALOGY    OP    THE    SOUTH    OP    ENGLAND. 

Extended  plains,  which  lie  high  above  the  present  river 
courses,  and  then  they  consist  of  gravel  and  sand,  it  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  the  alluvial  mud,  situated  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  valleys,  from  the  fresh  water  formations, 
and  it  even,  in  some  places,  seems  to  pass  into  it.  It  ap- 
pears, however,  to  be  older  than  that  of  the  valleys. 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  eleven  different  formations  now  described  are 
considered  by  Cuvier  and  Brongniartto  be  partly  of  ma- 
rine, partly  of  fresh  water  origin,  these  distinctions  de- 
pending on  their  containing  salt  or  fresh  water  petrifac- 
tions. On  this  principle  the  formations  are  viewed  as 
follows : 


Formation. 

1.  Chalk. 

2.  Plastic  clay,  <kc. 

3.  Coarse  marine  limestone. 

4.  Siliceous  limestone  without  shells. 

5.  a.  Marl  at  the  bottom  of  the 
gypsum  formation. 

b.  The   layers  of   marl,  gypsum,^ 
and  adhesive  slate  above  the  pre-  ^ 
ceding. 

c.  The  great  bed  of  gypsum. 

6.  Marine  marl  above  the  great     > 
bed  of  gypsum.  3 

T.  Sandstone  and  sand  without  shell. 

8.  Marine  sandstone  and  sand. 

9.  Millstone  without  shells. 

10.  Flint  siliceous  limestone. 


Origin. 
Marine 
Fresh  water. 
Marine. 
Not  determined. 

Fresh  water. 


Marine. 

Fresh  water. 

Marine. 

j 

Not  determined, 

Marine. 

Not  determined 

Fresh  water, 


ALLUVIAL  FORMATIONS.  293 

The  marine  formations  are  conjectured  to  have  been 
deposited  from  the  waters  of    the  ocean,  but  the   fresh 
water  rocks  from  the  waters  of  lakes.     This  hypothesis 
supposes  an  alternate  flux  and  reflux  of  the  waters  of  the 
ocean,  and  an  appearance  and  disappearance  of  the  wa- 
ters of  lakes.     However  amusing  such  an  hypothesis  may 
be,  we  must  confess  that  it  is  not  consistent  with  the 
usual  course  of  nature  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  that 
it  is  also  contradicted  by  the   geognostical  relations  of 
the  individual  formations  themselves.     In  describing  a 
formation,  we  cannot  rest  satisfied  with  the  mere  enume- 
ration and  description  of  the  organic  remains  it  contains  ; 
these  alone  will  never  enable  us  to  characterize  it  as  an 
unity  in  the  great  series  of  rock  formations  :  in  order  to 
determine  it  with  accuracy,  we  must  state  the  characters 
of  each  individual  bed,  describe  the  imbedded  and  veni- 
genous  minerals  they  contain,  the  relation  of  the  beds 
to  each  other,  in  regard  to  position,  transition,  intermix- 
tures, &c.,  and  lastly  describe  the  fossil  organic  remains 
enclosed  in  it.     But  this  is  not  exactly  the  method  follow- 
ed by  M.  Cuvier  and  Brongniart;  they  seem  to  consider 
the  fossil  organic  remains  as  affording  characters  of  supe- 
rior importance  to  all  the  others;  in  short,  that  from  them 
'alone  the  principal  and  gole  distinction  amongst  flpetz  for- 
mations are  to  be  made.  Thus  the  gypsum  formation  in  its 
lowest  part,  where  it  rests  on  the  marine  limestone,  con- 
tains fresh  water  organic  remains ;  hence  it  is  said  to  be 
a  fresh  water  deposite  ;  the  part  of  the  same  formation 
immediately  above  this  contains  salt  water  petrifactions, 
it  is  therefore  formed  from  the  waters  of  the  ocean  ;  the 
thick  bed  of  gypsum  in  the  middle  and  upper  part  of  the 
formation,  from  its  containing  remains  of  fresh  water 
shells  and  of  quadrupeds,  is  another  fresh  water  formation ; 
^nd  the  uppermost  part  of  the  formation,  the  marine  marl, 
from  the  nature  of  its  organic  remains,  is  maintained  to 


MINERALOGY  OP  THE  SOUTH  OP 

be  a  deposite  from  the  ocean.  But  we  have  only  to  read 
Cuvier  and  Brogniart's  description  of  this  set  of  rockg 
to  be  convinced,  that  all  the  strata  and  beds  of  which  it  is 
composed,  from  the  low  marl  resting  on  the  limestone  to 
that  immediately  under  the  marine  sandstone,  have  those 
mutual  relations  and  agreements  observable  in  every 
well  characterized  formation,  thus  proving  that  all  of 
them  have  been  formed  by  the  same  process  and  from  the 
same  fluid. 

But  in  most  of  these  fresh  and  salt  water  formations 
*we  find  an  intermixture  of  both  classes  of  remains,  the 
fresh  water  and  salt  water,  a  fact  which  shows  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  the  distinctions  attempted  to  be  established. 
To  Cuvier  and  Brongniart  we  are  indebted  for  much  va- 
luable information  in  their  description  of  the  country 
around  Paris,  but  we  must  protest  against  the  use  they 
have  made  of  fossil  organic  remains  in  their  geognostical 
descriptions  and  investigations.     They  have  too  often 
lost  sight  of  the  mineralogical  relations  of  the  rocks,  and 
wish  to  fix  the  attention  of  naturalists  principally  on  the 
organic  remains.  Thus,  in  some  degree,  separating  what 
must  always  be  conjoined  when  we  wish  to   describe 
rocks  and  characterize  formations. 

Several  of  these  new  flcetz  formations,  as  already  men- 
tioned, have  been  discovered  in  other  parts  of  Europe  ; 
and  we  may  now  add,  that  lately  a  series  of  rocks  of  the 
same  general  nature  has  been  observed  resting  on  the 
chalk  formation  in  the  south  of  England.  The  newer  for- 
mations in  this  island  were  first  pointed  out,  and  described 
by  Mr.  Webster,  in  a  valuable  Memoir  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Geological  Society. 
That  gentleman  is  of  opinion,  that  two  basins  of  chalk, 
filled  with  the  newer  formations,  occur  in  the  southern 


ISLE  OF  WIGHT  AND  LONDON  BASINS.  295 

parts  of  England  ;  one  he  names  the  Isle  of  Wight  Basin, 
the  other  the  London  Basin. 

1.  Isle  of  Wight  Basin. 

The  southern  side  of  this  basin  extends  from  the  high- 
ly inclined  chalk  at  the  Culver  cliffs,  at  the  east  end  of 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  to  White  Nose,  in  Dorsetshire,  five 
miles  west  of  Lulworth.  The  north  side  of  it  may  be 
traced  in  that  range  of  hills  called  the  South  Downs,  ex- 
tending from  Beachy  Head,  in  Sussex,  to  Dorchester,  in 
Dorsetshire.  The  strata  of  which  these  hills  are  com- 
posed, dip  generally  from  15°  to  5°  to  the  south ;  the  in- 
clination varying  in  different  places.  The  south  side  of 
the  basin,  therefore,  must  have  been  extremely  steep, 
while  the  slope  of  the  north  side  was  very  gentle.  The 
closing  of  the  basin  at  the  west  cannot  be  distinctly 
traced  ;  but  the  east  is  now  entirely  open,  the  sea  passing 
through  it. 

2;  London  Basin. 

The  south  side  of  the  basin  is  formed  by  a  long  line  of 
r,halk  hills,  including  those  of  Kent,  Surry,  Hampshire, 
called  the  North  Downs,  extending  through  Basingstock 
to  some  distance  beyond  Highclere  Hill,  in  Berkshire. 
Its  western  extremity  is  much  contracted,  and  seems  to 
lie  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Huagerford.  Its  north- 
western side  is  formed  by  the  chalk  hills  of  Wiltshire, 
Berkshire,  Oxfordshire,  Buckinghamshire,,  and  Hertford- 
shire. The  most  southern  part  of  this  boundary  has  not 
yet  been  well  determined.  On  the  east  it  is  open  to  the 
sea,  the  coasts  of  Essex,  Suffolk,  and  Norfolk,  being  sec- 
tions of  the  strata  deposited  in  it.  The  dip  of  the  chalk 
of  the  North  Downs,  from  Dover  to  Guilford,  is  from 
15°  to  10°;  but  in  the  narrow  ridge  of  chalk,  called  the 
Hog's  Back,  extending  from  Guilford  to  Farnham,  the 


296         MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOXJTH  OF  ENGLAND. 

dip  is  very  considerable,  being  about  45°.  On  the  dip  of 
the  other  sides,  no  observations  have  hitherto  beenmade» 
The  depth  of  the  chalk  below  the  surface  at  London 
must  be  very  considerable;  since,  though  wells  have  been 
sunk  several  hundred  feet,  it  has  never  been  reached;  but 
at  a  few  miles  south  of  the  metropolis,  the  chalk  is  fre= 
quently  come  to. 

The  formations  described  by  Mr.  Webster  as  lying 
over  the  chalk,  and  in  these  basins  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land, are  the  following  : 

1.  The  lowest  marine  formation  over  the  chalk,  inclu- 
ding the  plastic  clay,  and  sand,  together  with  a  particular 
clay,  named  the  London  Clay. 

2.  The  lower  fresh  water  formation,  which  rests  im- 
mediately on  the  preceding  formation. 

3.  The  upper  marine  formation. 

4.  The  upper  fresh  water  formation* 

5.  Alluvium. 

Chalk  Formation. — The  chalk  which  forms  the  sides 
and  bottom  of  the  basins,  occurs  distinctly  stratified,  and 
the  strata  vary  in  thickness  from  a  few  inches  to  several 
feet.  The  whole  formation  may  be  considered  as  com- 
posed of  three  great  stratified  beds,  the  undermost  of 
which  is  named  chalk  marl ;  the  second  hard  chalk,  with- 
out flint ;  the  third  or  uppermost,  soft  chalk,  with  flint. 
The  chalk  marl  varies  in  colour,  being  gray,  yellowish, 
brown :  it  is  softer  than  true  chalk,  and  on  exposure  to 
the  weather  it  rapidly  disintegrates.  It  contains  cotem- 
poraneous  nodules,  and  also  beds  of  a  more  indurated 
marl,  named  gray  chalk,  from  its  dark  colour.  Like  all 
argillaceous  limestones,  it  possesses,  in  a  considerable  de- 
gree, the  property  of  setting  under  water,  when  calcined 


LONDON  BASIN.  297 

and  made  into  mortar.    It  contains  the  following  petri- 
factions, viz.  ammonites,  scaphites,  turrellites,  trochites, 
and  madreporites.     The  middle  bed,  the  hard  chalky  is  in 
general  harder  than  the  bed  above  it,  although  Mr. 
Webster  remarks,  that  it  appears  from  some  observations 
he  made  in  Dorsetshire,  that  the  hardness  does  not  al- 
ways mark  a  particular  bed,  the  flint  chalk  being  in  some 
places  much  harder  than  that  without  flints  in  others.    It 
contains  a  greater  variety  of  petrifactions  than  the  chalk 
marl,  as  appears  from  the  following  list  of  the  genera  ob- 
served by  Mr.  Webster.  Several  echini  of  the  same  fami- 
lies as  those  met  with  in  the  chalk  with  flint ;  but  many 
of  them,  particularly  the  cassides,  differing  much  in  their 
forms  from  those  found  in  that  bed.     Spines  of  echini ; 
and  particularly  those  described  by  Brard  as  resembling 
the    Belemnites.      Patellites.      Trochites.     Serpulites, 
several  species.     Belemnites.     Lima?     Fish,  too  much 
mutilated  to  ascertain  the  genus.     Palates,  scales,  verte- 
brae, and  teeth  of  fish.     Cancri. — The   upper  bed,  the 
soft  chalk  with  flints,  forms  the  upper  part  of  the  formation, 
and  is  distinguished   from  the  preceding  by  its  softness, 
and  always  containing  flints.     It  also  differs  from  it  in 
the  petrifactions  it  contains,  of  which  the  following  are 
enumerated  by  Mr.  Webster.     Asterise.    Echini  of  seve- 
ral families.     Spines  of  the  foregoing,  resembling  belem- 
nites.  Serpulites.  Cardium.    Spondylus.    Ostrea,  several 
species.    Pecten,  several  species.    Chama  ?  Terebretula, 
many  species.     Alcyonia,  sponges,  and  numerous  un- 
known zoophytes.     A  ramose  madrepore.     Several  spe- 
cies of  minute  encrini,  figured  by  Mr.  Parkinson. 

1 .  Lower  Marine  Formation. 

This  formation  is  separated  into  two  great  divisions, 
1.  Sand  and  plastic  clay.    2.  London  clay. 

38 


208       MINERALOGY    OF    THE    SOUTH    OP   ENGLAND. 

1.  Sand  and  Plastic  Clay. — Of  these  two  minerals  the 
sand  is  the  most  extensive  and  continuous,   and  the  clay 
occurs  filling  up  basins  and  hollows  in  it.     The  clay  va- 
ries in  colour,  being  white,  gray,  yellowish-brown,  and 
red.     The  white  and  gray  varieties  are  potters'  clay.     It 
sometimes  contains  beds  of  brown  coal,  from  one  foot  to 
three  feet  thick  ;  and  beds  of  ironstone,  and  ferruginous 
sand,  occur  connected  with  it,  and  generally  lying  over 
it. 

2.  London  or  Blue  Clay. — The  bed  which  has  received 
this  name,  is  found  immediately  under  the  gravelly  soil 
on  which  London  is  situated.     Of  all  the  strata  over  the 
chalk  in  the  south  of  England,  it  is  of  the  greatest  extent 
and  thickness ;   and  the  number,  beauty,   and  variety  of 
the  petrifactions  which  it  contains,  render  it  the  most  in- 
teresting, and  the  most  easily  distinguishable.     It  consists 
generally  of  a  blackish  clay,  sometimes  very  tough,  and 
occasionally  mixed  with  green  earth  and  sand,  or   with 
calcarious  matter.      It  contains  also  numerous  flat  sphe- 
roidal cotemporaneous  nodules  of  hard  marl,  or  clayey 
limestone,  which  lie  in  regular  horizontal  layers,  at  une- 
qual distances,  generally  from  four  to  forty  feet  apart. 
These  nodules   are  well  known  by  the  name  of  Ludus 
Helmontii,  or  Septaria,  from  their  being  divided  across 
by  partitions  or  veins  of  calcarious  spar,  which  are  ge- 
nerally double.  In  their  cavities  are  frequently  found  crys- 
tals of  calcarious  spar,  and  of  heavy  spar.     The  septaria 
are  surrounded  by  crusts  which  contain  a  smaller  propor- 
tion of  carbonate  of  lime  than  the  central  part.    They  of- 
ten contain  organic  remains. 

Besides  the  clay,  marl,  sand,  and  carbonate  of  lime,  of 
which  the  main  body  of  this  bed  consists,  several  other 
substances  are  dispersed  through  it  in  smaller  quantities. 


LOWER   MARINE    FORMATION.  299 

Of  these  the  chief  is  iron  pyrites,  which  is  frequently  the 
mineralizing  matter  both  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  re- 
mains included  in  the  blue  clay.  Selenite  is  also  very 
abundant ;  and  sulphat  of  iron  sometimes  effloresces,  when 
the  clay  is  exposed  to  the  air,  from  the  decomposition  of 
the  pyrites  contained  in  it.  .Phosphat  of  iron  is  also  some- 
times found;  and  it  abounds  in  Epsom  salt,  and  in  fossil 
organic  remains. 

In  some  places,  as  at  Bognor,  it  assumes  a  new  charac- 
ter; instead  of  a  blue  clay,  we  find  a  number  of  rocks 
now  appearing  as  detached  masses  in  the  sea,  though 
evidently  forming  portions  of  a  stratum  once  continuous. 
The  lowest  part  of  these  rocks  is  a  dark  gray  limestone, 
or  perhaps  rather  a  sandstone,  containing  much  calcari- 
ous  matter,  enclosing  many  organic  remains  belonging 
to  the  blue  clay.  The  upper  part  is  siliceous  sandstone. 

This  clay  abounds  in  petrifactions,  and  of  those  the  fol- 
lowing copious  list  isgiveH  in  Mr.  Webster's  paper: 

Organic  Remains  in  the  Lower  Marine  Formation  above  the 
Chalk  in  England. 

NAMES  GIVEN  BY  LAMARCK-  LINN^AN    NAMES. 

Astroitae.  Astroitas. 

Calyptrea  trochiformis.  Trochus  apertus.  Brander. 

Conus.  Conus. 

Cyprea  pediculus.  Cyprea  pediculus. 

Terebellum  convolutum.  Bulla  sopita.  Brander. 

OHva.  Voluta. 

Voluta  spinosa.  Strombus  spinosus. 

rnusicalis.  luctator. 

bicorona.  ambiguus. 

crenulata.  Murex  suspensus, 


300        MINERALOGY  OP  THE  SOUTH   OP  ENGLAND. 


NAMES  GIVEN   BY   LAMARCK. 

Buccinum  undatum. 

Harpa. 

Cassis  carinata. 

Rostellaria  macroptera. 

Marex  tripterus. 

tricarinatus. 

tubifer. 


Fusus  longaevus. 
Murex  clavellatus. 

rugosus. 
Pyrula  nexilis. 
Pleurotoma  ? 
Cerithium  gigantum* 
Cerithium,  another  variety, 
but  too  mutilated  to  as- 
certain the  species. 
Trochus  agglutinans. 

monilifer. 
Solarium  caniculatum. 

or 

Delphiriula  ? 
Turritelia  terebellatta. 
imbricatoria. 
multisulcata. 
Ampullaria  patula. 
Dentalium  elephantinum. 
entails, 
dentalis. 
straitulum. 
Serpula. 

Nautilus  imperialis. 
pompilius. 


LINNJEAN   NAMES. 


Buccinum  nodosum.  Brando 
Strombus  amplus. 
Murex  tripterus. 

asper. 

pungens. 

contrarius. 

whirls  the  right  way. 

longaevus. 
Murex  deformis. 

porrectus. 

nexilis. 

Murex. 
Murex. 

Trochus  umbiiicaris.Brand. 

nodulosus. 

r  Turbo,  tab.  1.  fig.  7&  8. 
)  Brander. 

(  Turbo,  tab.  1.  fig.  ?.  Brand. 
Turbo  terebra. 
editus. 
vagus. 

Helix  niutabilis. 
Dentalium  elephantium. 
entalis. 
dentalis. 
straitulum. 
Serpula. 


LOWER    MARINE    FORMATION. 


301 


NAMES   GIVEN   BY  LAMARCK. 

Nautilus  centrah's. 
Lenticulina  rotulata. 
Nummulites  laevigata. 
Pinna,  2  species. 
Mytilus  raodiola. 
Pectunculus  pulvinatus. 

Cardiuin  porulosum. 
asperulum. 
obliquurn. 

Crassatellata  lamellosa. 
Venericardia  planicosta. 
Capso  rugosa. 
Chama  lamellosa. 
calcarata. 
sulcata. 
Ostrea  edulis. 
Pyrus  bulbiformis. 
Caryophillia. 
Teredo  navalis. 
Jaw  of  a  crocodile. 
Testudo,  or  Turtle. 
Various  Fish,  but  too  muti- 
lated to  ascertain  the  spe- 
cies. 
Fish  teeth,  supposed  by  some 

to  belong  to  the  shark. 
Molar  teeth  of  fish,  called 

Bufonites. 
Palatum  Scopuli,  and  other 

palates  of  fish. 
Tongue  of  a  fish  of  the  ge- 
nus Raia. 


T.INNJEAN   NAMES. 


Pinna. 

Mytilus. 

Area  glycejneris. 

noae. 
Cardium  porulosum, 

asperulum. 

obliquum. 
Tellina  sulcata. 

Venus  deflorata. 
Chama  squamosa. 


Ostrea  edulis. 

Turbinated  madrepores. 
Teredo  navalis. 


302        MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OP  ENGLAND. 

NAMES    GIVEN    BY   LAMARCK.  LINNJEAN   NAMES. 

Tail  of  the  Sting  Ray. 

Scales  of  fish. 

Vertebrae  of  various  species 

of  fish. 
Cancer,  above  20  species  of 

crabs. 

Gammarus,  or  lob- 
ster. 

Crangon,  or  prawn. 

Wood,  often  pierced  by  the 

Terredo  navalis,  and  filled 

with  pyrites  or  calcarious 

spar. 

Fruits,  branches,  excrescen- 
ces, ligneous  seed  vessels, 
and  berries  impregnated 
with  pyrites. 

These  fossil  remains  very  nearly  resemble  those  found 
in  the  lower  marine  formation  in  the  basin  of  Paris, — a 
point  of  agreement  of  great  importance,  as  it  leads  us  to 
the  probable  inference,  that  the  lower  marine  formation 
of  the  south  of  England  belongs  to  the  same  deposite. 
This  inference  is  strengthened,  when  we  compare  toge- 
ther the  minerals  of  the  different  beds  in  the  English  and 
French  formations. 

Thus  the  plastic  clay  in  the  Paris  basin  agrees  in  most 
of  its  external  characters  with  that  found  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight  and  London  basins;  and  further,  both  agree  iri 
the  purer  clays  being  destitute  of  organic  remains,  whilst 
the  upper  contains  fossil  cythera  and  turritellas.  A  spe- 
cies of  coal  also  occurs  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  Paris 


LOWER    FRESH   WATER    FORMATION-  303 

basin,  and  appears  to  be  analogous  to  that  found  in  a  si- 
milar situation  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  basin ;  and  the  French 
sands  agree  in  characters  with  those  found  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight  basin. 

In  the  English  basins  there  occur  but  few  rocks  that 
can  be  identified  with  the  coarse  marine  limestone  of  the 
Paris  basin.  The  rocks  of  Bognor  appear  to  be  the  most 
easily  referable  to  some  of  the  beds  of  the  coarse  lime- 
stone of  France;  yet,  in  the  Paris  formation,  there  is  no 
single  rock  possessing  the  same  external  characters  as 
those  exhibited  by  the  London  clay.  But  the  London 
clay  contains  the  same  petrifactions  as  the  coarse  lime- 
stone; and  if  we  could  suppose  a  blending  or  mixture 
between  the  French  plastic  clay,  which  is  blackish,  and 
contains  organic  bodies,  and  the  lower  beds  of  the  coarse 
limestone  with  its  green  earth  and  petrifactions,  we  should 
have  a  compound  agreeing  sufficiently  near  with  the 
London  clay  under  all  its  varieties;  with  this  difference, 
that  that  of  the  French  basin  would  have  a  greater  pro- 
portion of  the  calcarious,  and  of  ours  of  argillaceous 
matter.  But  with  respect  to  the  upper  beds  of  the  coarse 
limestone  of  France,  no  strata  have  as  yet  been  disco- 
vered in  England  that  correspond  to  them.* 

2.  Lower  Fresh  Water  Formation. 
It  consists  of  a  series  of  beds  of  sandy,  calcarious,  and 
argillaceous  marls.  Some  of  them  appear  to  consist  al- 
most wholly  of  the  fragments  of  fresh  water  shells,  viz. 
lymenus,  planorbis,  cyclostoma,  and  others  resembling 
helices,  and  mytuli.  In  its  lower  part  it  alternates  with 
beds  containing  marine  remains.  This  formation  occurs 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  but  not  in  the  London  basin. 

*  Webster's  Geological  Transactions,  vol.  ii.  p  209, 


304        MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH   OP  ENGLAND. 

According  to  Mr.  Webster,  it  is  in  this  formation,  in 
the  Paris  basin,  that  the  gypsum  beds  are  situated. 

3.  Upper  Marine  Formation. 

Over  the  lower  fresh  water  formation  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  a  stratum  occurs,  consisting  of  clay  and  marl, 
which  contains  a  vast  number  of  fossil  shells  wholly  ma- 
rine. Ten  of  the  species  agree  with  those  found  in  the 
London  clay,  but  they  differ  from  them  in  their  state  of 
preservation.  Most  of  them  appear  to  have  undergone 
but  little  change,  and  some  of  the  species  are  even 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  recent  shells. 

Delicate  marine  shells,  in  a  state  of  perfect  preserva- 
tion, occur  in  some  parts ;  thus  showing  that  they  could 
not  have  been  brought  from  great  distances,  but  must 
have  lived  near  to  the  spots  where  they  are  now  found. 
In  other  beds  we  meet  with  banks  of  large  fossil  oyster 
shells,  the  greater  part  of  which  are  locked  into  each 
other  in  the  way  in  which  they  usually  live,  and  many 
have  their  valves  united.  It  is  therefore  evident,  that 
these  oysters  had  not  been  removed  from  a  distance  to 
their  present  situation. 

If  we  depend  upon  petrifactions  as  one  of  the  means  of 
enabling  us  to  discriminate  the  different  floetz  strata,  we 
shall  see  reason  to  believe,  that  the  last  of  the  marine  de- 
positions in  the  south  of  England  are  nearly  allied  to  the 
upper  marine  formation  in  the  basin  of  Paris. 

In  this  bed  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Mr.  Webster  found 
the  following  petrifactions : 


UPPER  MARINE  FORMATION* 


305 


LINN^AN   NAMES, 


Murices. 


Venus. 
Venus. 
Voluta. 
Voluta. 

Helices. 


NAMES    GIVEN    BY    LAMARCK^ 

Cerithium  plicatura. 
lapidura. 
mutabile. 
semicoronatum. 
cinctum* 
turritellatunii 
tricarinatum. 
Cyclas  deltoidea. 
Cytherea  scutellaria. 
Ancilla  buccinoides. 

subulata. 
Ampullaria  spirita. 

depressa? 
Murex  reticulatus. 
Bivalve,    apparently    of  the 

genus  Erycina. 
Helicina? 
Murex  nodularius. 
Melania  ? 
Natica  Canrena. 
Ostrea,  approaching  to  del- 
toidea. 

specific  characters  not 

evident,  but  different  from 
the  last. 


In  the  same  formations  at  Harwich,  in  Essex,  the  fol- 
lowing petrifactions  occur: 


NAMES   GIVEN  BY  LAMARCK, 


Patella  spirorostris, 


LINN  JEAN  NAM1S 

Patella  ungaria. 
lasvis* 
fusca. 


39 


306         MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OF  ENGLAND, 


NAMES    GIVEN    BY   LAMARCK. 

Fissurella  labiata. 

emarginula. 
Calyptrea  sinensis. 
Eburna  glabatra. 


iLINN-EAHf   NAMES, 

fissura. 

Patella  sinensis. 
Buccinum  glabratum, 
Murex  corneiis* 
erinaceus. 
contrarius. 
Trochus  sulcatus. 
alligatus. 


Area  senilis. 
Venus  galina. 
Solen  siliqua. 

Ostrea  deformis. 


Ampullaria  rugosa. 
Natica  canrena. 
glaucina. 
Mactra. 

Venericardia  senilis. 
Lucina. 

PhoJas  crispata. 

Pecten  plebeius. 

infirmatus. 
Balanus. 


Some  of  these,  however,  may  belong  to  the  lower 
marine  clay. 

Mr.  Webster  appears  to  consider  the  Bagshot  sand, 
which  extends  over  a  considerable  tract  of  country  in 
Surrey,  and  the  blocks  of  granular  quartz,  named  gray 
weathers,  met  with  in  Berkshire  and  Wiltshire,  as  mem- 
bers of  this  formation,  and  somewhat  allied  to  the  sand 
and  sandstone  of  the  upper  marine  formation  in  the  Paris 
basin. 


UPPER  FRESH  WATER  FORMATION.  307 

4.  Upper  Fresh  Water  Formation. 
This  formation  also  occurs  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in 
the  hill  of  Headen,  where  it  rests  immediately  on  the 
last  mentioned,  or  upper  marine  formation.  It  is  an  ex- 
tensive calcarious  bed,  fifty-five  feet  in  thickness,  every 
part  of  which  contains  fresh  water  shells  in  great  abun- 
dance, without  any  admixture  whatever  of  marine  or- 
ganic remains.  The  marl  is  soft,  and  easily  affected  by 
the  weather,  but  includes  a  harder  variety,  which  is  so 
durable  as  to  be  employed  as  a  building  stone.  Many 
of  the  shells  found  in  this  bed  are  quite  entire,  and  these 
are  intermixed  with  numerous  fragments  of  the  same 
species.  They  consist,  like  the  lower  fresh  water  for- 
mation, of  several  kinds  of  lymnei,  helices,  and  planor- 
bes ;  and  from  the  perfect  state  of  preservation  in  which 
they  are  found,  appear  to  have  lived  in  the  places  where 
they  now  are,  the  shells  of  these  animals  being  so  friable, 
that  they  could  not  have  admitted  of  removal  from  their 
native  situations  without  being  broken. 

Over  this  bed  is  another  of  clay,  eleven  feet  in  thick- 
ness, containing  numerous  fragments  of  a  small  non-de- 
script  bivalve  shell.  Upon  this  lies  another  bed  of  yel- 
low clay  without  shells,  and  then  a  bed  of  friable  calca- 
rious sandstone,  also  without  shells.  To  this  sandstone 
succeed  other  calcarious  strata,  containing  a  few  fresh 
water  shells.  In  these  are  parts  of  extreme  compactness, 
and  other  parts  contain  masses  of  a  loose  chalky  matter, 
?Tiost  of  which  are  of  a  round  form;  and  among  these 
also  are  many  beds  of  a  calcarious  matter,  extremely 
dense,  and  much  resembling  those  incrustations  that  have 
been  formed  by  deposition  from  water  on  the  walls  of 
ancient  buildings  in  Italy.  Through  all  these  last  strata 
are  veins,  ^frequently  several  inches  in  thickness,  of  ra- 


308        MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OP  ENGLAND. 

diated  calcarious  spar.     It  contains  the  following  fossil 
shells: 

Planorbis,  much  resembling  that  which  Brongniart  says 

approaches  to  P.  cornu. 
Planorbis,  two  other  species. 
Planorbis,  much  resembling  P.  prevostinus. 
Ampullaria. 
Cyclostoma. 
Limneus  longiscatus. 

acuminatus. 

corneus. 
Gyrogonites  is  the  petrified  seed  of  a  species  of  chara* 

This  formation  is  the  latest  of  the  flcetz  rocks  hitherto 
observed  in  this  island,  and  it  agrees  nearly  with  its  cor- 
responding formation  in  the  Paris  basin,  with  this  differ- 
ence, however,  that  it  contains  no  siliceous  beds. 

5.  Alluvial  Formations. 

The  floetz  rocks  already  described,  are  in  many  places 
covered  with  various  alluvial  deposites.  In  the  Isle  of 
Wight  and  London  basins,  the  alluvium,  besides  the 
vegetable  earth,  clays,  marls  and  sands,  pontains  a  vast 
quantity  of  rounded  quartpse  pebbles,  of  various  kinds 
and  sizes,  which  are  irregularly  distributed,  in  some 
places  forming  thick  beds,  mixed  with  clay,  sand,  and 
small  fragments  of  flints;  in  others  are  mixed  with  shells 
of  various  kinds,  and  sometimes  almost  without  any  other 
substance.  This  compound  is  named  Flint  Gravel.^ 


*  Some  of  these  pebbles  are  evidently  fragments  of  the  flint  origin- 
ally belonging  to  the  chalk  formation  ;  but  other  varieties  are  of  calce- 
dony  and  hornstone.  Another  remarkable  class  of  siliceous  pebbles  is 


ALLUVfAL    FORMATIONS.  309 

The  alluvial  deposites  in  the  south  of  England  also 
contain  fossil  bones  of  quadrupeds;  and  these,  according 
to  Mr.  Webster,  are  of  different  dates. *  The  most  an- 
cient are  entirely  petrified,  and  where  found  in  gravel, 
are  conjectured  to  have  been  washed  out  of  the  strata  in 
which  they  were  originally  imbedded.  Of  this  kind  are 
probably  remains  of  the  mastodon,  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Parkinson.  The  next  class  contains  the  bones  of  the 
elephant,  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  and  the  Irish  elk, 
which  are  frequently  accompanied  with  marl,  and  fresh 
water  shells.  They  are,  however,  not  petrified ;  and 
though  generally  in  a  state  of  decay,  yet  are  sometimes 
quite  perfect.  They  are  particularly  abundant  in  Suffolk 
and  Norfolk,  but  have  also  been  found  at  Brentford,  in 


found  either  mixed  with  the  flints,  calcedonies,  and  hornstones,  or 
alone,  or  cemented  into  a  pudding  stone.  These,  according  to  Mr. 
Webster,  appear  to  have  been  originally  formed  of  concentric  coats 
or  layers  of  different  colours,  which  vary  in  almost  every  specimen. 
The  colours  are  for  the  most  part  yellow,  brown,  red,  bluish,  black, 
gray,  and  white ;  but  these  run  into  each  other  by  an  infinite  number 
of  shades.  Others  are  spotted,  or  clouded  with  different  tints,  and 
have  much  the  appearance  of  Egyptian  pebbles.  They  take  an  ex- 
cellent polish,  and  are  then  often  extremely  beautiful.  These  last  ap- 
pear rather  more  to  resemble  agates  than  chalk  flints.  They  are  never 
found  of  large  size,  seldom  exceeding  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  ge- 
nerally are  not  more  than  one  inch.  They  are  of  an  oval  or  flattened 
form,  which  appears  to  have  been  their  original  figure,  although  they 
have  evidently  been  subjected  to  a  certain  degree  of  attrition.  The 
well  known  pudding  stone  of  Hertfordshire  is  composed  of  these  con- 
centric pebbles,  imbedded  in  a  basis  of  granular  quartz.  These  con- 
centric pebbles,  like  the  imbedded  masses  of  flint  in  chalk,  of  agate  in 
trap,  and  of  felspar  in  porphyry,  are  to  be  viewed  as  having  been 
formed  at  the  same  time  with  the  rock  in  which  they  were  formerly 
included. 

*  It  is  still  uncertain  whether  or  not  all  the  substances  named  allu- 
Fial,  are  strictly  of  this  nature.  The  geognostic  relations  of  many  al- 
luvial alleged  Deposites  are  still  but  imperfectly  known. 


310         MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OP  ENGLAND. 

the  Isle  of  Sheppey,  and  several  other  places.  Other 
bones  of  ruminating  animals,  as  those  of  the  horse,  ox, 
and  stag,  not  different  from  the  living  species,  are  fre- 
quently dug  up  at  small  depths,  and  are  covered  by  peat, 
gravel,  loam,  &c.  Similar  organic  remains  occur  in  the 
alluvial  strata,  over  the  new  floetz  rocks  around  Paris. 

The  following  tabular  view  of  the  upper  formations  in 
the  southeast  of  England,  will  convey  to  the  reader  a 
distinct  conception  of  the  new  formations  just  enume- 
rated, and  also  of  several  of  those  immediately  below 
them.* 

1.  Alluvial. 

The  debris  of  previously  existing  strata,  formed  either 
by  the  present  existing  causes,  or  by  others  that  have 
acted  at  an  early  period.  The  substances  are  principally 
water- worn  fragments  of  flints,  mixed  with  sand  and  clay 
in  various  proportions. 

2.  Upper  Fresh  Water  Formation. 
This,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  consists  of  a  limestone 
containing  numerous  imbedded  fresh  water  shells.  It 
agrees  in  several  of  its  characters  with  the  correspond- 
ing formation  in  the  basin  of  Paris,  and  other  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe.  Traces  of  a  fresh  water  forma- 
tion are  also  to  be  observed  in  the  London  basin,  be- 
tween the  alluvium  and  the  London  clay,  consisting  of 
marl  with  fresh  water  shells,  and  containing  also  nume- 
rous bones  of  land  animals,  as  the  elephant,  hippopota- 
mus, buffalo,  elk,  ox,  &c.  These  have  been  chiefly 
found  at  Sheppey,  Brentford,  Essex,  Suffolk,  and  Nor- 

*  See  Webster,  in  Sir  H.  Englefield's  interesting  and  valuable  work 
on  the  Isle  of  Wight. 


FORMATIONS  ABOVE  CHALK.          311 

folk.  In  other  places,  as  at  Sheppey,  Erasworth  in  Sus- 
sex, &c.  vast  quantities  of  the  fruits  of  tropical  countries 
have  been  found  in  a  corresponding  situation. 

3.   Upper  Marine  Formation. 

This  bed  consists  of  bluish  or  greenish  marl  and  clay, 
containing  a  great  number  of  fossil  marine  shells,  which, 
in  general,  are  different  from  those  found  in  the  London 
clay.  It  is  known  in  this  country,  with  certainty,  only 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight; 

4.  Lower  Fresh  Water  Formation. 
This  formation  is  ascertained  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
It  is  placed  under  the  last,  and  consists  of  clay,  marl, 
and  sand,  with  vegetable  matter  resembling  an  imper- 
fect coal,  or  peat,  and  contains  numerous  fragments  of 
fresh  water  shells.  At  the  bottom  is  formed  a  mixture 
of  marine  with  fresh  water  shells.  As  the  alternation  of 
marine  with  fresh  water  strata  has  not  been  observed  in 
any  other  part  of  this  country,  except  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
the  traces  of  a  fresh  water  formation  in  the  London  ba- 
sin cannot  perhaps  be  referred  to  this. 

5.  Sand  without  Shells. 

In  the  Isle  of  Wight  this  sand  is  extremely  pure ;  it  is 
dug  at  Alum  Bay,  and  is  used  for  making  the  best  glass. 
The  Bagshot  Sand,  perhaps,  belongs  to  this ;  and  possi- 
bly the  Gray  weathers ;  but  the  position  of  these  has  not 
yet  been  accurately  determined. 

6.  London  Clay. 

This  is  the  blue  clay  of  London,  Highgate,  Sheppey, 
Portsmouth,  Stubbington,  Hordwell,  Southend,  Harwich, 
&c.  It  is  distinguished  by  its  septaria,  and  its  beautiful 
and  numerous  organic  remains.  In  Alum  Bay  it  is  the 


312         MINERALOGY  OF  THE  SOUTH  OF  ENGLAND. 

most  northerly  of  the  vertical  strata.  Bognor  rocks  are 
subordinate  to  this  bed.  It  agrees  in  its  petrifactions, 
and  geognostic  situation,  with  the  lower  beds  of  the 
coarse  marine  limestone  of  the  Paris  basin. 

T.  Plastic  Clay  and  Sand. 

The  clay  in  this  formation  is  often  extremely  pure, 
and  fit  for  the  potter.  It  is  much  employed  in  the  pot- 
teries in  Staffordshire.  It  is  seen  in  Alum  Bay,  the 
trough  of  Poole,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  blue  clay  in 
many  parts  of  the  London  basin.  A  kind  of  bituminous 
wood  is  sometimes  found  in  it.  This  formation  is  con- 
jectured to  correspond  to  the  French  plastic  clay,  which 
lies  over  the  chalk. 

8.  Chalk  with  Flints; 

This  formation  is  not  known  in  Scotland,  but  in  Eng- 
land extends  from  Flamborough  Head,  in  Yorkshire,  to 
a  little  beyond  Lyme  Regis  to  Devonshire ;  and  where 
it  is  not  covered  with  the  newer  floetz  rocks,  forms  the 
chalk-hills  or  downs.  It  is  distinguished  by  the  regular 
layers  of  flint  nodules. 

9.  Chalk  without  Flints. 

The  inferior  stratum  of  chalk  in  the  southeast  part  of 
England  is  always  without  flints  ;  when  the  chalk  with 
flints  is  wanting,  it  forms  the  surface.  The  relations  of 
both  may  be  seen  at  the  Culver,  and  Compton  Bay,  in 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  Handfast  Point,  Beachy-head,  Guil- 
ford,  Dorking,  &c.  It  differs  from  the  former  princi- 
pally in  the  absence  of  flints,  in  the  beds  being  thicker, 
and  the  chalk  being  sometimes  a  little  harder. 

10.  Chalk  Marl. 
This  stratum  consists  of  chalk  and  an  intimate  mixture 


FORMATIONS  BELOW  CHALK.  313 

it  is  always  found  below  the  two  last  strata. 
Jt  may  be  readily  distinguished  from  chalk  by  its  falling 
in  pieces  on  being  wetted  and  dried  again.  Some  va- 
rieties of  it,  when  burnt,  form  an  excellent  cement  for 
building ;  it  is  also  a  valuable  manure, 

1 1 .  Green  Sandstone, 

This  formation  consists  of  siliceous  earth  united  by 
salcarious  matter;  and  contains  also  mica  and  green 
earth.  From  the  variety  in  the  proportion  of  the  latter 
ingredient,  it  is  by  some  divided  into  the  green  sand  and 
gray  sand,  a  distinction  which  cannot  always  be  made, 
since  these  alternate  and  pass  into  each  other.  It  is 
found  in  the  wealds  of  Kent  and  Sussex,  at  the  foot  of  the 
chalk  downs  ;  and  is  dug  at  Rygate  and  Measham  for 
freestone.  It  is  seen  also  at  Folkstone,  Beachy-head, 
the  Culver  and  Compton  Bay,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Pew- 
sey,  in  Wiltshire,  &c.  Alternating  with  it  are  often 
beds  of  limestone,  as  a£  JMaidstone,  in  Kent,  where  they 
are  called  Kentish  Rag;  also  in  the  Undercliff,  Isle  of 
Wight,  beds  of  hornstone  occur  in  it.  It  abounds  in  or- 
ganic remains. 

12.  Blue  Marl. 

This  bed  may  be  seen  under  the  former  very  distinctly 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight;  as  at  Sandown  Bay,  many  parts  of 
the  Undercliff,  Niton,  and  Compton,  Jt  contains  very 
few  petrifactions. 

13.  Ferruginous  Sand. 

This  formation  consists  of  an  alternation  of  quartzy 
sandstone,  clay,  and  limestone.  The  sandstone  contains 
always  more  or  less  oxide  of  iron,  sometimes  in  such 
quantity,  as  in  the  wealds  of  Kent  and  Sussex,  that  it  was 
formerly  employed  as  an  ore  of  iron.  The  clay  tracts  of 

40 


314        MINERALOGY  OP  THE  SOUTH  OF  ENGLAND.  / 

the  wealds  belong  to  it.  This  formation  may  be  also  seen 
at  Sandown  Bay,  Blackgang,  and  Compton  Chines,  Swan- 
wich  Bay,  Hastings,  Tunb  ridge  Wells,  &c.  Fossil  shells 
are  rarely  found  in  it ;  but  brown  coal  is  met  with  fre- 
quently. 

14.  Purbeck  Shell  Limestone. 

This  formation  consists  of  numerous  beds  of  shells  and 
fragments  of  shells,  cemented  together  by  calcarious 
spar,  and  alternating  with  shell  and  marl.  The  Purbeck, 
and  perhaps  the  Petworth  marbles,  form  part  of  the  se- 
ries ;  and  it  is  further  remarkable  for  containing  nume- 
rous fresh  water  shells  and  bones  of  the  turtle ;  hence  it 
is  conjectured  to  have  been  formed  from  fresh  water. 

15.  Clay  with  Gypsum. 

At  Swanwich,  in  Dorsetshire,  this  is  dug  under  the  shell 
limestone.  The  gypsum  does  not  occur  in  great  quanti- 
ty, but  is  employed  for  plaister. 

16.  Portland  Oolite. 

This  includes  the  stone  of  Tillywhim  and  Windspit 
quarries  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  called  Purbeck  Portland, 
and  that  from  Portland  Island.  It  is  entirely  calcarious, 
and  is  formed  of  small  grains  or  concretions  adhering 
together.  It  is  the  only  stone  used  for  the  fronts  of  pub^ 
lie  buildings  in  London.  Some  of  its  beds  contain  many 
marine  shells ;  also  fossil  wood  and  hornstone. 

1 7.  Bituminous  Shale,  containing  the  Kimmeridge  Coal. 
This  formation  may  be  seen  at  Kimmeridge,  Encombe, 
and  the  Isle  of  Portland. 

The  discoveries  of  Cuvier,  Brongniart,  and  Webster, 
of  which  we  kave  now  given  a  pretty  full  account,  have 


FORMATIONS  BELOW  CHALK,         315 

added  a  most  interesting  and  curious  set  of  rocks  to  the 
geognostic  system.  They  have  connected,  more  nearly 
than  heretofore,  the  alluvial  with  the  ficetz  formations, 
and  have  thus  rendered  more  complete  the  series  of  rocks 
which  extends  from  granite  to  gravel.  Not  the  least  in- 
teresting of  the  consequences  resulting  from  the  discove- 
ries of  these  Naturalists,  is  the  extension  they  give  to 
our  views  in  regard  to  the  former  nature  of  the  animal 
world,  and  of  the  changes  it  has  experienced  during  the 
different  periods  of  the  earth's  formation. 


THE  following  extract  of  a  letter  addressed  to  me  by 
Mr.  Marsden,  the  author  of  the  well  known  and  ex- 
ceilent  Account  of  Summatra,  ought  to  have  been  in- 
serted in  another  part  of  the  work,  but  was  until  thi* 
moment  mislaid* 

"  In  your  instructive  Notes  to  the  Translation  of  M« 
Cuvier's  Essay  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth,  you  observe, 
that  I  appear  to  have  misunderstood  that  able  naturalist, 
when  I  say  that  he  accuses  me  of  confounding  the  hip- 
popotamus with  the  dugong.  You  will  not,  I  am  per- 
suaded, think  me  unreasonably  pertinacious,  when  I  take 
the  liberty  of  pointing  out  to  you  the  passage  in  M. 
Cuvier's  writings  that  drew  from  me  the  remark  (in  the 
last  edition  of  the  Summatra)  which  you  have  done  me 
the  honour  of  quoting,  and  which  you  will  find  to  be 
quite  distinct  from  that  where  he  supposes  that  I  may 
have  confounded  with  the  former  the  succotyro  of  Niew- 
hoff.  This  supposition,  indeed,  I  should  not  have 
thought  of  controverting,  as  the  animals,  if  not  in  fact 
the  same,  have  a  general  resemblance  to  each  other,  and 
I  do  not  myself  make  pretension  to  any  critical  know- 
ledge in  zoology ;  but  with  respect  to  the  dugong  (or 
duyong)  the  matter  was  different,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  vindicate  myself  from  the  charge  of  so  palpable 

a  mistake* 

*f*. 

"  Le  nom  de  vache  marine  (says  M.  Cuvier,  Annales 
du  Museum  d'Histoire  Naturelle.  Tome  treizieme.  Sur 


EXTRACT  OF  A  LETTER  FROM  MR.  MARSDEN. 

POsteologie  du  Lamantin,  par  G.  Cuvier.  p.  302.)  ayant 
ete  donne  par  les  Hollanders  et  par  quelques  autres  peu* 
pies,  a  Phippopotame,  aussi  bien  qu'au  dugong,  certains 
voyageurs,  trompes  par  cette  homonyme,  ont  place  des 
hippopotames  dans  quelques  pays  ou  ils  avoient  entendu 
dire  qu'il  y  avoient  des  vaches  marines,  tandis  qu'on  ne 
vouloit  leur  parler  que  de  dugongs.  J'ai  une  preuve  re* 
cente  de  ce  meprise.  Un  voyageur  tres-instruit  me 
soutenoit  avoir  apporte  des  dents  d'hippopotames  des 
Molluques;  quand  il  me  les  montra,  je  vis  que  c'etoient 
des  dents  de  dugong;  et  je  suis  maintenant  fort  porte  a 
croire  que  c'est  de  cette  maniere  que  Marsden  aura  crtt 
pouvoir  donner  des  hippopotames  a  Tile  de  Sumatra." 

«  I  certainly  was  guilty  of  an  omission  in  referring  my 
readers  only  to  one  of  the  passages  in  M.  Cuvier's  writ- 
ings in  which  my  name  was  introduced,  and  not  to  that 
which  would  have  been  the  most  to  my  purpose.  With 
regard  to  the  consistency  of  the  two,  I  shall  only  say 
that  there  appears  something  like  a  desire  of  supporting 
an  hypothesis  at  any  rate. 

"  Perhaps  in  a  future  edition  of  your  Book  (which 
will,  I  have  not  a  doubt,  be  immediately  called  for)  you 
may  think  it  right  to  notice  briefly,  that  I  had  stronger 
grounds  for  my  remark  than  were  at  first  apparent,  and 
that  I  had  not  misunderstood  the  particular  passage  to 
which  it  had  reference.  At  all  events,  I  feel  a  satisfac* 
tion  in  setting  myself  right,  as  I  trust  I  do>  in  your  opi- 
nion, as  well  as  in  the  opportunity  it  gives  me  of  sub* 
scribing  myself,  with  much  esteem, 
Dear  Sir, 

Your  faithful 

Humble  Servant, 

W,  MARSDEN.'* 


OBSERVATIONS 


ON   THE 


GEOLOGY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA; 


ILLUSTRATED 


BY  THE  DESCRIPTION  OF  VARIOUS  ORGANIC  REMAINS  FOUND  IN 
THAT  PART  OF  THE  WORLD. 


BY  SAMUEL  L.  MITCHILL, 

Botan.  Mineral.  etZoolog.  in  Univers.  Nov.  Eborac.  Prof.  &c,  &c. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  spirited  disposition  repeatedly  manifested  by  the 
publishers,  has  induced  me  to  furnish  an  article  for  their 
New- York  impression  of  Professor  Jameson's  edition  of 
the  Chevalier  Cuvier's  Theory  of  the  Earth.  A  work 
composed  under  peculiar  advantages  by  a  happy  genius 
in  France,  comes  to  us,  recommended  and  improved  by 
the  talents  of  a  leading  naturalist  in  Scotland.  I  should 
be  proud  to  accompany  those  illustrious  men  on  a  tour 
through  the  United  States. 

For  myself,  it  becomes  to  state  some  of  the  opportuni- 
ties, which  have  prepared  me  for  so  serious  an  under- 
taking. 

While  I  resided  in  Paris,  I  endeavoured  to  acquire  as 
much  information  as  possible  from  the  admirable  institu- 
tions there.  But,  the  present  constellation  of  science, 
had  not  then  risen. 

During  several  visits  to  London  I  became  an  industri- 
ous visiter  to  the  museums,  libraries,  galleries,  and  even 

41 


322  INTRODUCTION. 

the  environs  of  the  city.  The  rapid  and  increasing  march 
of  knowledge,  since  I  was  there,  has  outdone  all  former 
example. 

My  continuance  in  Edinburgh,  enabled  me  to  study 
under  able  masters.  My  tours  around  that  great  seat  of 
learning-,  and  an  excursion  to  the  mountains,  rendered 
me  more  than  an  admirer  of  natural  scenes  in  perspective. 
I  was  taughf  to  penetrate  beyond  the  surface,  and  to  con- 
ceive something  of  geognostic  formation.  Now,  how* 
ever,  the  light  of  science  shines  wider,  and  deeper,  and 
brighter  ;  and  enables  her  favourite  labourers,  more  than 
ever,  to  share  the  benefit  of  its  rays. 

On  my  return  to  North  America,  I  found  my  fellow  citi- 
zens of  New-York  occupied  in  a  negotiation  with  the 
Five  Indian  Nations,  for  the  purchase  of  their  land,  situ- 
ated to  the  westward  of  Fort  Schuyler,  and  extending 
away  to  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie.  I  became  convinced, 
on  attending  that  important  treaty  in  1T88,  that  a  proper 
acquaintance  with  the  productions  within  its  limits  and 
along  its  confines  would  add  most  important  materials 
to  natural  history.  After  all  that  the  travellers  and  ob- 
servers had  done,  from  Father  Hennepin  to  John  Bartram 
and  Lewis  Evans,  there  appeared  to  be  a  boundless  field 
for  investigation. 

I  had  an  opportunity  to  make  further  observations  when, 
in  1796, 1  performed  an  excursion  at  the  request  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Arts  and  Manu- 
factures>  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the  region  near  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  river  and  its  tributary  streams,  for 
minerals.  I  made  a  report  on  the  several  tracts  of  coun- 
try I  had  visited.  These  I  divided  into,  1.  the  Graniti. 
cal  ;  2.  The  Shistic;  3.  The  Sand-stone;  4.  The  Lime- 


INTRODUCTION.  323 

stone,  and  5.  The  Alluvial.  This  was  published  in  the 
Transactions  of  that  excellent  Society,  and  in  the  first 
and  third  volumes  of  the  Medical  Repository.  Mr.  Vol- 
ney,  who  has  written  the  best  account  of  the  mountainous 
chains  and  atmospheric  currents  in  the  United  States,  did 
me  the  honour  to  quote  my  performance  with  respect. 

Since  that  time,  tours  to  Lower  Canada  and  Quebec, 
to  Niagara  and  the  adjacent  part  of  Upper  Canada,  and  to 
Virginia,  have  contributed  to  increase  my  knowledge  ; 
as  have  also  several  journeys  by  land  and  a  voyage  by 
water,  to  explore  Long-Island  and  the  rocks,  islands  and 
shoals  in  its  vicinity.  My  information  too  has  been  ex- 
ceedingly increased  by  the  intercourse  with  sensible  men, 
and  by  the  acquisition  of  fossil  specimens. 

On  a  survey  of  the  whole  ground,  it  appeared  to  me 
there  was  room  for  a  geological  classification  in  a  four- 
fold order ;  thus, — 

1 .  The  most  ancient  foundation  of  the  globe. 

2.  The  depositions  from  inland  seas  or  reservoirs  of 
salt  water. 

3.  The  depositions  from  fresh  water. 

4.  Modern  depositions  from  the  briny  ocean. 

During  this  period,  individuals  in  several  places  began 
to  form  mineral  collections,  and  to  travel  for  the  sake  of 
procuring  information  and  specimens. 

In  a  particular  manner,  William  Maclure,  Esq.  took 
a  broad  survey  of  the  Fredonian  States,  and  deline- 
ated upon  a  chart  the  several  geological  regions  ac- 
cording to  the  system  of  Professor  Werner.  He  com- 
posed a  memoir,  in  explanation  of  his  map,  which  is 


324  INTRODUCTION. 

rich  in  original  and  scientific  intelligence.  This  per- 
formance is  the  more  valuable,  inasmuch  as  the  able 
and  discerning  author  went  extensively  over  the  coun- 
try and  examined  its  geognostic  condition  with  his  own 
eyes.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  publish  - 
ed  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society.  He  afterwards  laid  them  before  the  learned 
world,  in  French  at  Paris.  And  he  has,  very  lately,  publish- 
ed a  new  and  improved  edition  in  the  United  States.  I 
agree  with  that  gentleman  (p.  26.)  in  his  Observations 
on  the  Geology  of  the  United  States,  &c.  that  "the  shells 
and  other  remains  of  organized  matter,  have  not  been 
examined  with  that  accuracy  necessary  to  form  just  con- 
clusions. The  notice  he  takes  of  such  reliquiae  in  p.  27. 
54,  55,  and  other  parts  of  his  work,  show  the  importance 
he  attaches  to  them. 


Among  the  early  promoters  of  mineralogical  inquiry, 
Archibald  Bruce,  M.  D.  deserves  to  be  remembered. 
The  four  numbers  of  his  Mineralogical  Journal,  contain 
so  much  new  and  interesting  matter,  that  a  sentiment  of 
universal  regret  prevails  on  account  of  its  discontinuance. 
His  lectures  and  his  museum  prove  his  successful  exer- 
tions. 


Mineralogy  owes  much  to  the  enterprising  spirit  of 
Col.  George  Gibbs.  By  a  happy  concurrence  of  fortune 
with  inclination,  this  gentleman  has  enriched  his  country 
with  extensive  and  splendid  collections  from  transatlan- 
tic countries.  While  New-Haven  extols  his  munificence, 
his  friends  in  New- York  have  received  his  promise  that 
something  worthy  of  himself  arid  of  the  science,  should 
be  done  for  their  institution.  His  example  has  gained 
him  fame  and  followers.  It  is  charming  to  observe  in 
tfee  young  gentlemen  who  have  studied  at  Yale  College, 


INTRODUCTION. 

I 

the  intellectual  heat  and  light  which,  like  the  collision  of 
flint  and  steel,  his  grand  cabinet  has  excited  in  their 
minds. 

Professor  Cleaveland  has  done  a  full  proportion  toward 
the  advancement  of  mineralogical  and  geological  science. 
His  late  publication  is  a  manual  of  instruction  for  all  who 
are  disposed  to  learn.  In  the  compilation,  he  has  descri- 
bed the  modern  method  as  it  ought  to  be  ;  he  has  been 
liberal  to  his  cotemporaries,  and  just  to  his  country. 

Much  commendation  is  due  to  John  G.  Bogert,  Esq, 
who  has  evinced  a  most  commendable  and  successful 
zeal  both  in  the  collection  of  specimens,  and  in  the  gene- 
rous use  he  makes  of  them.  He  deserves  to  be  ranked 
among  the  first  friends  and  ablest  promoters  of  this  kind 
of  knowledge. 

His  Excellency  Dewitt  Clinton  has  contributed  greatly 
toward  the  promotion  of  this  as  well  as  other  sciences.  A 
lover  alike  of  sound  learning  and  of  those  who  excel  in  it, 
he  has  proved  himself  both  an  admirer  and  a  proficient, 
By  exertions  of  his  own  and  of  the  meritorious  men  be 
has  patronized,  he  has  accumulated  a  body  of  important 
facts  and  intelligence.  He  has  proved  himself  as  capable 
of  philosophizing  as  of  collecting.  By  the  brightness  of 
his  lamp,  his  neighbour  sees  no  less  comfortably  than 
himself. 

Many  gentlemen  might  bq  mentioned,  for  the  aid  they 
have  afforded  to  this  branch  of  science,  such  as  Schaef- 
fer,  Steinhauer,  Haines,  Griscom,  Akerly,  Silliman,  Coo- 
per, Beck,  Conrad,  Low,  Seybert,  Mease,  Godon,  We- 
therall,  Collins,  Nuttal,  Bradbury,  and  more  than  I  can 
enumerate  at  this  time.  Suffice  it,  to  observe,  that  with- 


326  INTRODUCTION. 

in  a  few  years,  the  attention  of  our  citizens  has  been  turn- 
ed  to  the  pursuit  of  geology  and  mineralogy  with  an  inte- 
rest and  success  never  known  before.  It  is  in  consequence 
of  the  information  brought  home  by  tourists  and  travellers, 
and  that  which  I  have  collected  during  many  trips 
and  excursions  of  my  own,  that  I  was  enabled  to  com- 
pose a  memoir  on  the  organic  remains  of  the  region 
around  New-York,  and  read  the  same  to  the  Literary  and 
Philosophical  Society.  In  that  paper  I  described  up- 
wards of  twenty  animals  which  I  presumed  to  be  extinct, 
because  there  were  no  living  vestiges  of  them  known. 

Many  new  facts  have  been  disclosed  since  that  time. 
I  am  satisfied  that  New-York  is  as  important  a  centre  of 
geological  productions  and  occurrences,  as  London,  Pa- 
ris, or  Rome.  Under  this  persuasion,  I  have  consented 
to  add  a  brief  memorandum  concerning  American  fos- 
sils, and  some  of  the  geognostic  features  of  those  dis- 
tricts where  they  lie.  It  may  serve  as  an  outline  of  the 
great  work,  now  just  begun,  and  perhaps  as  a  direction 
to  the  inquiries  of  those  who  shall  engage  in  these  or  simi- 
lar investigations. 


GEOLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS, 


The  Original  Saltness  of  the  North  American  Lakes. 

THE  remains  of  marine  animals  in  the  soil  and  rocks  ad- 
jacent to  the  lakes,  may  be  cited  as  proofs  that  the  ocean 
once  filled  the  basins  of  the  latter  and  covered  the  surface 
of  the  former.  Lithophytous  and  testaceous  relicks  are 
so  plain  and  numerous,  that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the 
evidence.  Organic  remains  abound  in  the  greater  part 
of  the  distance  from  lake  Erie  through  the  counties  of  Ni- 
agara, Genesee,  Ontario,  Seneca,  Cayuga,  and  Onondaga. 
They  exist  plentifully  too  in  the  counties  of  Lewis,  Jef- 
ferson, St.  Lawrence,  Madison,  Essex,  Oneida,  Montgo- 
mery, Washington,  Chenango,  and  various  others. 

At  the  remarkable  sulphureous  spring  in  the  town  of 
Phelps,  eleven  miles  northwest  of  Geneva,  they  appear 
like  corallines  arid  madrepores.  On  both  sides  of  the  Ge- 
nesee and  Tonewanto  rivers,  they  resemble  marine  shells. 
While  on  the  east  and  west  banks  of  Niagara  river,  they 
assume,  in  addition  to  the  already  enumerated  forms,  those 
that  have  erroneously  been  called  petrified  wasps'  nests 
and  honey-combs.  They  are  hereabout  mostly  bedded 
in  fetid  limestone.  Sometimes  they  are  blended  with 


328  ORIGINAL  SALTNESS  OF 

pyrites.     In  others  they  are  penetrated  by  the  petroleum 
called  Seneca-oil. 

On  viewing  these  productions,  the  mind  endeavours 
to  fix  that  unascertained  time  when  the  oceanic  water  of 
the  primitive  globe  rolled  over  this  region ;  how  the  dams 
and  barriers  which  restrained  the  floods  gave  way  and 
laid  bare  the  land ;  and  wherefore  the  receptacles  of  water 
were  shrunk  and  narrowed  to  their  present  size.  The 
saline  waters  were  thus  collected  into  lakes,  and  pools, 
diversifying  the  interior  regions  of  this  continent  with 
a  remarkable  mixture  of  land  and  water. 

It  may  be  rationally  concluded  that  the  internal  seas, 
now  called  lakes,  were  originally  filled  with  salt  wa- 
ter. Their  present  freshness  is  the  consequence  of 
the  dilution  they  have  gradually  undergone,  changing 
them  from  briny  to  fresh  water. 

To  understand  this  subject,  let  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron, 
Michigan, and  their  dependencies,  with  the  upper  lakes,  be 
compared  with  the  collections  of  salt  water  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

The  Caspian  is  naturally  salt,  and  retains  that  quality 
because  there  is  no  outlet.  The  waters  it  receives  by  the 
rivers  and  rains  are  so  nearly  balanced  by  that  which 
goes  off  by  evaporation,  that  this  grand  reservoir  has 
never  burst  its  boundary. 

• 

The  like  observation  applies  to  the  Dead  Sea  in  Syria. 
The  exhalation  from  its  surface  seems  to  be  supplied  from 
the  influx  of  the  Jordan  ;  and  there  has  been  no  sufficient 
accumulation  to  force  a  passage  out. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  LAKES.          329 

The  Mexican  lakes  present  a  case  which  strongly  cor- 
roborates this  doctrine.  Of  the  two  lakes  which  impart 
health  and  convenience  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  the  upper 
one  is  fresh,  the  lowe  r  salt.  This  salt  is  not  a  muriate,  but  a 
carbonate  of  soda,  like  that  in  the  nitrian  ponds  of  Egypt. 
The  two  streams  which  feed  the  upper  lake,  have  changed 
both  the  mass  and  character  of  the  water.  The  salt  has 
been  washed  out,  and  carried  down  to  the  lower  lake. 
There  it  stagnates,  until  it  escapes,  by  evaporation,  or 
through  the  expensive  aqueducts  constructed  by  the  go- 
vernment. The  rise  of  the  water  in  the  lower  basin  fre- 
quently overflows  an  extensive  surface  of  lowland,  and 
sometimes  inundates  the  contiguous  part  of  the  city.  When 
it  dries  up  and  leaves  bare  the  surface,  an  alkali  is 
often  left,  which  the  inhabitants  gather  and  sell  to  ma- 
nufacturers of  soap. 

The  Mediterranean  has  a  communication  with  the  At- 
lantic, and  its  saftness  is  supported  by  the  great  supplies 
it  receives  through  the  Herculean  straits  near  Gibraltar, 

The  same  remark  may  be  made  concerning  the  Black 
Sea,  or  Euxine.  It  seems  to  be  now  understood,  particu- 
larly since  the  publication  of  Mr.  Ingigian's  History  of  the 
Thracian  Bosphorus,  that  the  level  of  the  Marmora  and 
the  Euxine  is  so  nearly  the  same,  that  the  current  some* 
times  runs  through  the  canal  of  Constantinople,  as  some 
call  it,  northeastwardly  to  replenish  the  Euxine,  and  then 
again,  southwestwardly  to  evacuate  it.  When,  therefore, 
the  supplies  from  the  Danube,  the  Dnieper,  the  Dniester, 
the  Don,  the  Kuban,  the  Phasis,  and  other  streams,  fail 
to  raise  the  Euxine  high  enough  to  force  into  the  Mar- 
mora and  the  .Egean,  there  is  still  water,  both  heights 
being  the  same.  If  the  Black  Sea  heightens  from  new 
accessions  of  water,  the  outward  current  runs.  But 

42 


330  ORIGINAL  SALTNESS  OP 

whenever  the  Mediterranean  becomes  more  elevated,  or 
the  jEgean  or  Marmora  seas  are  higher  than  the  Euxine, 
the  current  proceeds  the  other  way,  and  a  flood  of  salt 
water  pours  into  the  Euxine,  until  4he  level  is  restored. 
This  flux  and  reflux,  this  current  and  counter-current, 
explains  a  fact  mentioned  by  the  elaborate  Le  Sage,  that 
the  Euxine  is  not  so  saline  as  the  ocean ;  though,  as  Pro- 
fessor Clarke  relates,  briny  enough  at  the  Crimea,  to  ena- 
ble salt  to  be  manufactured.  Thus  the  Euxine  receives 
salt  water  from  the  Mediterranean  as  occasion  may  re- 
quire. In  theorizing  upon  its  saltness,  it  may  be  con- 
sidered as.  less  saline  than  it  originally  was.  It  may  be 
expected  to  grow  fresher,  by  slow  degrees,  until,  possibly, 
after  a  very  long  course  of  ages,  the  Black  Sea  may  be- 
come as  fresh  as  lake  Superior. 

The  inland  seas  of  North  America  differ  from  all  these 
cases,  except  that  of  the  upper  lake  of  Mexico.  They  are 
unlike  the  Caspian  and  the  Judean  seas,  because  these  latter 
have  no  outlets.  They  vary  from  the  Mediterranean  and 
Euxine,  inasmuch  as  the  supplies  of  the  latter  are  abun- 
dant ;  and  the  outlets  of  the  American  lakes  pass  along 
such  declivities,  and  are  so  rapid  and  precipitous,  that 
the  stream  always  sets  one  way,  and  a  reflux  is  impossible. 
If  the  American  lakes  had  originally  been  ink  or  alcohol, 
instead  of  brine,  the  respective  fluids  would  have  long 
ago,  by  incessant  supplies  of  pure  water,  passed  through 
all  the  stages  of  dilution,  and  have  wholly  lost  their  co- 
loured or  spirituous  qualities.  Their  original  saltness 
may  therefore  be  conceived  as  having  been  incessantly 
weakened  by  the  copious  and  incessant  supplies  of  fresh 
water ;  and  the  freshened  water  which  descended  the  ra- 
pids and  the  cataracts,  fell  to  a  depth  whence  it  was  im- 
possible for  it  to  flow  back. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  LAKES.  331 

Under  such  circumstances,  where  the  salt  water  was 
continually  going  forth,  and  the  fresh  water  occupying 
its  place,  it  must  necessarily  have  happened  that  the  for- 
mer would  gradually  be  exhausted,  and  its  place  occupied 
by  the  latter.  Thus  it  may  be  conceived  that  the  primi- 
tive saltness  of  our  lakes  was  lost. 

When,  however,  we  survey  the  oceanic  relicks  on  their 
shores,  prodigiously  diversified  in  number,  quality  and 
form,  we  cannot  refuse  full  credit  to  the  conclusion. 

And  when  we  also  reflect,  that  Erie  and  its  continuous 
lakes,  Huron  and  Michigan,  abound  with  animals,  which 
probably  once  inhabited  salt  water,  we  are  led  to  consi- 
der the  interesting  process,  whereby,  during  the  freshen- 
ing of  the  water,  they  were  weaned  from  their  marine 
habits,  and  gradually  converted  to  fresh  water  animals. 

The  Cod  of  the  Lakes,  (gadus  lacustris)  forwarded  tome 
from  Massachusetts,  by  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn,  Esq.  of 
Boston ;  and  the  Salmon  without  teeth  (salmo  clupeoides) 
brought  to  me  from  the  falls  of  St.  Mary,  by  Major  Ro- 
berdeau,  are  creatures  of  this  description. 


332        THE  INNER  OR  UPPER  BARRIER 

The  Barriers  which  probably  restrained  the  Waters,  in  some 
parts  of  North  America,  after  the  Jlncient  Ocean  had  re- 
tired. 

If  we  examine  the  face  of  the  country,  we  shall  pro- 
bably discover  the  remains  of  the  old  dams  or  barriers 
by  which  the  waters  were  restrained,  for  a  considerable 
time  after  the  ocean  had  subsided. 

I.    THE    INNER    OR    UPPER    BARRIER. 

One  of  these  seems  to  have  circumscribed  to  a  certain 
degree  the  waters  of  the  original  lake  Ontario.  It  is  re- 
ported to  be  distinguishable  on  a  mountainous  ridge  be- 
yond the  river  St.  Lawrence,  in  Upper  Canada,  and  si- 
tuated northeast  of  Kingston.  Passing  thence  into  the 
state  of  New-York,  it  may  be  traced  as  it  divides  the 
streams  which  empty  into  the  present  lake  from  those 
which  discharge  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence.  It  thus 
separates  the  Black  Iliver  from  the  Oswegatche.  Passing 
along,  it  parts  the  head  waters  of  the  Hudson  from  the 
La  Grasse,  the  Racket  and  St.  Regis,  which  run  in  the  op- 
posite direction,  or  northward.  This  elevation  or  mound 
appears  to  have  been  continued  to  the  north  end  of  lake 
George,  and  to  have  formed  the  mountainous  ridge  on 
the  east  side  of  that  lake.  It  apparently  travelled  along, 
crossing  the  Hudson  above  Hadley  Falls;  and  passing  to 
the  southward  of  Sacondago,  crossed  the  Mohawk  at  the 
Little  Falls. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  a  more  correct 
and  minute  survey  will  delineate  the  continuation  of  this 
mound,  or  of  its  ruins,  toward  the  eastern  sources  of  the 
Susquehannah,  and  particularly  the  branch  called  Char- 


WHICH  RESTRAINED  THE  WATERS.  333 

lotte  river,  dividing  them  from  the  Canajoharie  and  the 
Schoharie,  two  streams  which  fall  into  the  Mohawk  from 
its  southern  side.     Geologists  will  follow  it  along  as  it 
parts  the  Cookwago  and  Papachton  branches  of  the  De- 
laware river,  from  the  Plattekill,  Esopuskill,  and  Ronde- 
outkill,  which  empty  into  the  Hudson.     I  entertain  no 
doubt  the  entire  or  broken  chain  will  be  found  which 
made  the  junction  with  the  Great  Shawangunk,  near  the 
confines  of  Marbletown,  Rochester,  and  Paltz,  in  the 
county  of  Ulster.    Thence,  or  from  the  point  where  the 
Rondeout  joins  the  Wallkill,  the  Shawangunk  mountain 
raises  and  continues  its  immoveable  mound  in  a  south- 
westerly  direction,    through  the   northwestern   part  of 
New-Jersey.     It  crosses  the  Delaware  river  a  little  to 
the  northward  of  Easton ;  and   leaving  Nazareth  and 
Bethlehem  to  the  southeast,  crosses  the  river  Lehigh  to 
the  northward  of  Heidelburg,  and  the  Schuylkiil  to  the 
northward  of  Hamburgh,  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  dam  of  mountains  is  thence  continued  along  to  the 
north  of  Harrisburgh,  over  the  Susquehannah,  and  so  in 
a  southwesterly  direction,  until  it  enters  Maryland,  and 
passes  the  Potomac  into  Virginia,  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
immediately  at  the  junction  of  the  Shenandoah  with  that 
river. 

In  Virginia  it  seems  to  be  co«founded  with  the  Alleg- 
hany  mountain.  As  far  as  I  can  trace  them,  by  map,  and 
by  verbal  information,  the  two  grand  ridges  approach 
and  perhaps  coalesce  by  some  cross  ridges. 

But  in  pursuing  this  mound  which  confined  the  waters, 
the  Cumberland  mountain  presents  itself,  dividing  the 
Tennessee  river  from  the  Cumberland  river,  and  showing 
its  abrupt  termination  at  the  Ohio,  between  the  spaces 


334  BREACHES  I  A   THE  INN 


where   the   two   just-mentioned  riyers  unite   with   tho 
Ohio. 

From  this  point,  the  eye  of  the  inquirer  looks  over  a 
wide  gap  or  long  tract  of  prairie,  towards  the  hills  which 
skirt  the  Illinois  river,  and  the  mountains  west  of  cape 
Girardeau,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  probably  furnishing 
the  only  remaining  vestiges  of  the  ancient  barrier. 

This  grand  rampart  has,  in  the  course  of  ages,  been 
broken  through  in  several  places.  I  shall  mention  the 
principal  breaches  that  have  oorne  to  my  knowledge. 

1  .  The  breach  at  the  northeastern  extremity  of  lake 
Ontario. 

The  thousand  islands,  and  the  whole  of  the  scenery  in 
their  vicinity,  bear  witness  of  the  mighty  rush  of  waters 
which  at  some  former  period  prostrated  the  opposing 
mound,  and  left  them  as  scattered  monuments  of  the  ruin. 
This  must  have  contributed  to  lower  lake  Ontario  to  the 
level  of  its  outlet,  or  to  its  present  bed.  By  this  opera- 
tion the  water  must  have  subsided  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  from  the  height  of  the  ridge  road  between  the 
Niagara  and  Genesee  rivers,  so  beautifully  described 
by  Dr.  Clinton.*  All  the  country  on  both  the  Cana- 
dian and  Fredonian  sides  must  have  been  drained  and 
left  bare  on  the  occasion,  exposing  to  view  the  water- 
worn  pebbles,  the  works  of  marine  animals,  their  solid 
parts  buried  in  the  soil,  their  relicks  bedded  in  the  rocks, 
and  the  whole  exhibition  of  organic  remains  formed  in 
the  bottom  of  such  a  sea  as  that  was. 


*  Introductory  Discourse  before  the  New-York  Literary  and  Philo 
sophical  Society,  note  G. 


OR  UPPER  BARRIER.  335 

Great  masses  of  primitive  rocks  from  the  demolished 
mound  or  dam,  and  vast  quantities  of  sand,  mud  and 
grave],  were  carried  down  the  stream  to  form  the  curious 
mixture  of  primitive  with  alluvial  materials  in  regions 
below. 

2.  The  breach  at  the  northern  extremity  of  lake 
George. 

It  may  be  presumed  that  the  pressure  of  water  conti- 
nued for  ages,  finally  demolished  the  barrier  near  the 
outlet  of  lake  George.  The  sea  must  have  subsided  to 
the  level  of  the  breach,  and  the  lake  been  diminished  to 
about  its  present  size.  A  part  of  the  geological  configu- 
ration in  that  neighbourhood  may  be  traced  in  all  proba- 
bility to  this  source. 

3.  The  breach  made  by  the  Hudson  at  Hadley  Falls. 

On  ascending  the  Hudson,  the  traveller  finds  the  coun- 
try, as  he  approaches  the  cataracts  of  the  Hudson,  called 
Glen's  and  Hadley's  Falls,  composed  of  alluvial  mate- 
rials, mingled  with  detached  masses  of  primitive  rocks 
removed  from  their  stratified  beds.  The  quantity  of  this 
loose  matter  is  so  great,  as  to  cause  the  name  of  Sandy- 
Hill  to  be  given  to  the  place  where  It  is  most  abundant. 
But  on  exploring  the  river  a  few  miles  above  Sandy-Hill, 
the  marks  of  violence  and  disruption  present  themselves. 
The  beholder  becomes  satisfied  whence  the  loose  mate- 
rials came  which  he  surveyed  on  his  approach.  They 
consist  of  the  fragments  of  the  broken  barrier  and  of  the 
sandy  alluvion  forced  down  the  stream  when  the  dam 
gave  way. 

In  this  case  tfre  primitive  fragments  and  the  alluvial 


BREACHES  IN  THE  INNER 

deposites  are  found  contiguous  to  another  formation  of 
shistons  trap  and  fetid  limestone,  full  of  marine  shells  and 
madrepores. 

4.  The  breach  at  the  upper  falls  of  the  Mohawk. 

I  have  several  times  visited  this  remarkable  spot,  and 
am  convinced  the  rocks  formed  at  some  remote  period  a 
mound  which  opposed  the  progress  of  the  water  eastward. 
"  As  you  approach  the  falls,"  says  Governor  Clinton, 
"  the  river  becomes  narrow  and  deep,  and  you  pass 
through  immense  rocks,  principally  of  granite,  inter- 
spersed with  limestone.  In  various  places  you  observe 
profound  excavations  in  the  rocks,  made  by  the  agitation 
of  pebbles  in  the  fissures,  and  in  some  places  the  river  is 
not  more  than  twenty  yards  wide.  As  you  approach  the 
western  extremity  of  the  hills,  you  find  them  about  half 
a  mile  distant  from  summit  to  summit,  and  at  least  three 
hundred  feet  high.  The  rocks  are  composed  of  granite, 
and  many  of  them  are  thirty  or  forty  feet  thick ;  and  the 
whole  mountain  extends  at  least  half  a  mile  from  east  to 
west.  You  see  them  piled  on  each  other  like  Ossa  on 
Pelion;  and  in  other  places  huge  fragments  scattered 
about,  indicating  evidently  a  violent  rupture  of  the  wa- 
ters through  this  place,  as  if  they  had  been  formerly 
dammed  up  and  forced  a  passage;  and  in  all  directions 
you  behold  great  rocks  exhibiting  rotundities,  points 
and  cavities,  as  if  worn  by  the  violence  of  the  waves  or 
hurled  from  their  ancient  positions."* 

As  is  the  consequence  in  such  cases,  the  upper  country 
wears  the  face  of  a  drained  tract,  and  the  lower  country 

*  Introductory  Discourse  before  the  New-York  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  note  Q, 


OR  UPPER  BARRIER.         \  337 

exhibits  the  traces  of  rounded  primitive  rocks,  inter* 
spersed  with  alluvial  deposites. 

5.  The  breach  by  the  Delaware  through  the  mountains 
above  Easton. 

The  Delaware  river  is  turned  out  of  its  course  by  the 
continuation  of  the  Shawangunk  mountain,  and  travels 
along  its  northwestern  side  from  Minissink  to  Knowlton ; 
there  it  has  opened  a  way,  and  in  doing  so,  drawn 
the  water  from  the  soil  above,  and  covered  the  lands  be- 
low with  a  medley  of  rocks,  pebbles  and  sand. 

But  before  this  opening  was  made,  the  mountain  seems 
to  have  been  disparted  at  another  place,  called  the  Wind- 
Gap,  through  which  probably  the  water  of  the  inland 
sea  was  partially  and  temporarily  discharged. 

The  vastness  of  this  dismemberment  impresses  every 
traveller  with  a  sense  of  its  present  grandeur,  and  of  the 
prodigious  force  necessary  to  rend  the  mountain  from  its 
summit  to  its  base. 

6.  The  breach  by  the  Lehigh  through  the  mountains. 

To  the  northwest  of  Bethlehem,  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
river  Lehigh  shows  the  opening  it  has  made  through  the 
Blue  Mountain,  as  it  is  there  called ;  a  passage  which, 
like  those  already  mentioned,  the  physical  geographer 
and  geologist  will  contemplate  with  interest.  An  ope- 
ration which  laid  bare  the  region  covered  with  water 
above,  and  overspread  with  alluvial  wash  and  displaced 
and  rounded  nodules  of  rock  the  regions  below,  is  worthy 
of  particular  notice. 

43 


338  BREACHES  IN  THE  INNER 

7.  The  breach  made  by  the  waters  of  the  river  Schuyl- 
kill. 

The  two  branches  of  the  river  Schtiylkill  have  effected 
a  similar  disruption  through  the  same  chain,  there  deno- 
minated the  Albany  mountains. 

It  appears  by  the  report  of  Cadwallader  Evans,  jun. 
President  of  >the  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company,  made 
in  1817,  that  the  whole  fall  in  the  river  from  the  coal 
mines  above  the  Blue  ridge  to  tide  water  near  Philadel- 
phia, is  about  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  Of  this  the 
ascent  from  tide  water  to  Reading  is  ninety-eight  feet ; 
and  to  the  coal  beds  beyond  the  mountains  three  hundred 
and  eighty-two  feet.  The  specimens  of  coal,  and  the  to- 
pography  of  the  country,  by  Charles  Snowden,  Esq.  are 
very  characteristic  and  instructive. 

It  is  represented  that  the  tipper  stream  of  the  Swetara 
has  in  like  manner  penetrated  the  barrier. 

8.  The  breach  made  by  the  Susquehannah. 

Some  distance  to  the  southward  of  the  junction  of  the 
Juniata  river,  the  forceful  Susquehannah,  fraught  with  the 
rains  not  only  of  fehe  midland  district  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  of  a  very  extensive  region  in  New- York,  has  tri- 
umphed over  the  mountain  barrier,  there  termed  the 
north  mountain,  which  impeded  its  course  to  Chesapeake 
Bay.  When  geognostic  researches  shall  be  pushed  as  far 
as  they  deserve,  the  scientific  world  will  be  fully  and 
circumstantially  informed  of  the  natural  and  physical 
appearances  at  this  memorable  spot. 

Water  drained  from  the  higher  region,  and  comminuted 

o  « 


OR  UPPER  BARRIER.  339 

sand  with  detached  rocks  carried  to  the  lower,  charac- 
terize as  elsewhere  this  remarkable  tract. 

9.    The  breach  by  the   Potomac  through  the   Blue 
Ridge. 

Much  might  be  written  on  this  disruption  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  or  South  Mountain,  as  it  has  sometimes  been 
called.  The  great  agent  was  probably  the  united  current 
af  the  Potomac  and  Shenandoah.  The  mountains  have 
every  appearance  of  having  formerly  opposed  a  formida- 
ble barrier  to  the  accumulated  water.  Obstructed,  as 
it  were  by  a  dam,  a  pond  or  lake  must  have  been  formed 
beyond  them.  Their  height  is  estimated  at  about  twelve 
hundred  feet,  or  not  quite  so  much.  Mr.  Volney  has 
incorrectly  traced  them  along  to  the  Catskill  mountains 
of  New- York ;  whereas  they  really  belong  to  the  Sha- 
wangunk  chain,  which  is  quite  distinct,  both  as  to  its  si- 
tuation and  composition,  from  the  Catskili :  the  former 
being  composed  of  quartzy  rocks  and  amygdaloid,  and 
the  latter  of  sandstone. 

The  sides  and  summits  of  the  mountains  near  Harper's 
ferry  are  in  summer  clothed  with  green  oaks.  Chestnuts, 
maples,  and  planes  are  frequent  before  the  eye.  The  lime 
tree,  the  tulip  tree,  the  locust  tree,  awf  the  willow  tree, 
overspread  the  surface  with  their  veraure.  While  the 
persimmon,  the  passiflora,  the  calycjjtnthus,  and  the  pa- 
paw,  strike  their  roots  through  the  sands  of  the  shores 
and  the  crevices  of  the  rocks. 

The  predominating  rocks  and  stones  dispersed  over  the 
parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  which  lie  on  both  sides 
of  the  Potomac  between  the  tide  waters  of  Georgetown 
and  the  Blue  Ridge  at  Harper's  ferry,  are  quartzy. 


340  BREACHES  IN  THE  INNER 

Masses  of  this  siliceous  material,  possessing  different 
shades  of  whiteness,  are  very  frequent  along  the  road,  as 
you  pass  through  Loudon  county  on  the  south,  and 
through  Montgomery  and  Frederick  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river. 

Yet  it  must  be  observed,  that  the  mixtures  of  quartz 
are  various  in  this  region.  Where  the  Potomac  pene- 
trates the  strata  of  rocks  at  the  Little  Falls  above  George- 
town, they  assume  the  forms  of  granite,  granitine,  and 
micaceous  shist.  In  some  instances,  quartz  and  schoerl 
are  associated.  In  others  mica  and  garnet  are  blended. 
Frequently  quartz  is  found  by  itself;  and  then  again  mica 
is  aggregated  into  enormous  masses,  forming  the  high 
banks  and  much  of  the  bed  of  the  river.  Several  other 
mixtures  of  these  materials  are  found  hereabout.  The 
micaceous  shist  containing  small  garnets  may  be  seen 
advantageously  at  the  Chain  Bridge,  three  miles  above 
Georgetown.  The  operations  necessary  for  making  a 
passage  over  the  Potomac,  have  exposed  the  strata  in  a 
manner  that  favours  examination. 

The  great  falls  of  this  river,  ten  miles  higher  up  the 
country,  are  formed  chiefly  of  micaceous  shistus.  The 
quantities  are  exceedingly  great,  and  compose  the  high 
perpendicular  and  overhanging  sides  of  the  stream,  as 
well  as  its  bed,  and  the  rocky  islands  between  its  two 
banks.  The  interior  locks  of  the  canal  made  here  by 
the  Potomac  Company  for  facilitating  intercourse,  are 
dug  through  strata  of  micaceous  shist. 

But  the  opening  through  the  Blue  Ridge  at  Harper's 
ferry  is  of  a  still  different  character.  The  gap  reaches 
from  its  summit  to  its  base,  and  exposes  to  the  observer 
its  internal  eonsitution.  It  is  in  such  places  that  the  pe- 


OR  UPPER  BARRIER.  341 

eutiar  composition  of  the  strata  can  be  examined  to  more 
advantage  than  under  most  other  circumstances.  The 
rocks  may  be  referred  by  the  modern  geologist  to  the 
TRANSITION  order.  At  the  gap  there  is  scarcely  any  mica 
to  be  seen ;  but  the  quartz  is  abundant.  The  structure  of 
the  mountain  may  be  comprehended  under  the  following 
mineralogical  disposition.  First,  quartzy  rocks  by  them- 
selves, with  very  little  admixture.  Sometimes  large  and 
milk-white  or  snow-white  masses  make  their  appearance 
in  other  strata.  Secondly,  quartz  blended  with  shist  or 
slate.  Both  the  materials  are  distinct,  and  they  make 
coarse  associations.  The  quartz  is  compact,  granular, 
white,  semi-transparent,  cellular,  ragged,  and  of  various 
other  qualities;  but  not  often  crystallized.  The  slate  is 
of  different  hues,  from  pale  to  brown,  greenish  and 
black.  Thirdly,  quartz  and  hornblende.  The  material 
which  I  take  to  be  hornblende,  is  of  a  brownish  and  fre- 
quently of  a  somewhat  greenish  hue,  and  mingled  inti- 
mately throughout  with  the  quartz.  This  composition 
appears  to  me  to  resemble,  more  nearly  than  any  thing 
I  recollect,  the  rocks  at  the  upper  falls  of  the  Mohawk 
river.  The  hornblende  is  not  known  to  be  distinct, 
fibrous  or  crystalline.  Fourthly,  quartz  and  iron.  Very 
commonly  the  quartz  is  coloured  by  a  ferruginous  tinge, 
and  assumes  therefrom  a  brown,  reddish  or  rusty  colour, 
and  imparts  the  same  to  the  other  ingredients.  Fifthly, 
quartz  and  feldspath ;  though  this  mixture  occurred  so 
rarely,  that  it  is  but  barely  worth  the  mentioning.  Sixthly, 
quartz  filling  the  veins  and  seams  of  all  the  other  rocks, 
and  giving  them  stripes  or  bands  of  clear  white,  and 
sometimes  marking  them  with  fantastic  flourishes. 

Such  are  the  principal  materials  and  their  combinations 
at  the  Blue  Ridge,  where  the  waters  penetrate  it,  on  the 
territorial  line  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  Put  the  mo- 


342  BF- CACHES  IN  THE  INNER 

ment  you  leave  the  mountains  skirting  the  Potomac  and 
the  Shenandoah  on  their  eastern  or  atlantic  side,  the 
minerals  are  of  a  different  character.  Immediately  at 
their  bases,  and  at  the  banks  of  these  respective  rivers, 
the  strata  becomes  shistose.  The  streams  pass  by  islands, 
and  roll  over  beds  of  slate.  The  strata  lie,  where  they 
have  not  been  deranged,  at  angles  of  from  thirty-three 
to  forty-five  degrees  from  the  horizon ;  and  their  dip  or 
inclination,  particularly  in  the  channel  of  the  Pbtomac, 
is  from  N.  W.  to  S.  E.  Suddenly  as  you  pass  to  the  Vir- 
ginia side,  the  slate  rises  with  a  rough,  craggy,  and  pic- 
turesque front. 

Between  the  margin  of  the  water  and  the  foot  of  this 
elevation,  stand  the  shops  where  the  muskets,  pistols,  and 
rifles  are  manufactured  for  the  United  States.  At  this 
commodious  spot,  the  water  for  turning  the  wheels  and 
giving  force  to  the  machinery  is  conducted  through  a 
canal  or  raceway  about  a  mile  in  length.  In  several 
places,  this  passage  has  been  dug  through  layers  of  slaty 
rock.  A  principal  part  of  the  stone-work  consists  of  the 
same  material ;  for  although  it  does  not  split  into  forms 
fit  for  covering  houses,  it  may  be  separated  into  slabs 
and  fiags  fit  for  walls  and  floors.  Here  it  is  rare  to  be- 
hold any  mixtures  of  quartz ;  yet  small  parcels  may  be 
found.  No  other  mineral  abounds.  Slate  prevails  every 
where.  The  heights  from  which  the  traveller  surveys 
the  sublime  and  picturesque  scenery  hereabout  are  slate. 
In  short,  whether  wells  are  opened  for  water,  founda- 
tions for  buildings,  or  graves  for  the  dead,  parcels  of 
shistus  are  raised  with  the  spade.  And  from  the  lowly 
channel  to  the  pinnacle  where  the  powder  magazine 
stands,  the  solid  body  of  the  mountain  is  brittle  shist. 
In  some  places  the  layers  appear  to  have  been  disturbed ; 
for  some  of  them  are  cracked  through  perpendicularly: 


OR  UPPER  BARRIER.  343 

some  approach  a  horizontal  direction,  and  others  are 
jumbled  into  confused  heaps.  The  removal  of  sand, 
gravel,  and  under-propping  by  rains,  has  in  some  in- 
stances left  the  rocks  in  odd  shaped  piles ;  and  as  these 
shall  be  further  deprived  of  support,  they  will  quit  their 
present  abodes,  and  rush  precipitous  to  the  valleys.  The 
road  travelled  by  Braddock  towards  the  fatal  plains  of 
Monongahela  in  1755,  and  the  ground  occupied  by  the 
provisional  army  under  Pinckney  in  1800,  are  underlaid 
by  foundations  of  slate. 

Yet,  in  less  than  two  miles,  as  you  proceed  up  the  Po- 
tomac, limestone  makes  its  appearance ;  and  you  meet 
with  the  like  in  travelling  a  few  miles  up  the  Shenandoah. 
I  am  informed  that  shistus  and  quartz  were  heaped  higk 
in  alternate  and  distinct  strata,  about  ten  miles  hence,  on 
the  banks  of  this  latter  river. 

Indeed  it  seems  to  me,  as  evident  as  the  nature  of  the 
case  admits,  that  in  Virginia  as  in  New-York,  slate  under- 
lays and  supports  the  limestone.  And  it  may  be  conceived 
as  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  that  the  same  material 
which  reaches  to  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  on  the 
Virginia  side  of  the  Potomac,  and  on  the  Winchester  side 
of  the  Shenandoah,  is  continued  beneath  their  elevated 
ridges,  and  bears  them  on  its  back,  as  it  does  the  Catskill 
and  the  Newburgh  mountains  in  New- York.  Let  the 
geologists,  in  these  parts  of  America  particularly,  study 
the  history  of  slate. 

The  scenery  about  Harper's  ferry  is  much  and  justly 
celebrated.  Several  artists  have  attempted  to  paint  it. 
I  recollect  to  have  seen,  several  years  ago,  a  picture  of 
it,  by  some  person  whose  name  I  do  not  now  remember, 
in  the  Washington  house  at  Mount  Vernon.  My  atten- 


344  BREACHES  IN  THE  INNER 

tion  was  called  to  a  striking  view  of  it,  at  the  principal 
inn  near  Ellicott's  mills,  on  the  Patapsco,  in  Maryland ; 
and  I  examined  an  excellent  sketch  of  the  same,  in  the 
possession  of  a  gentleman  at  Baltimore.  The  best  spot 
for  observation  is  a  romantic  pile  of  shistic  rocks,  si- 
tuated between  the  summit  and  the  Shenandoah.  The 
prospect  is  eastward  or  down  the  stream.  The  two  rivers 
unite  at  a  point  just  beneath  you,  and  pursue  a  roaring 
and  foaming  course  through  the  dreadful  breach  they 
have  made.  The  landscape  consists  of  water  finding  its 
way  toward  the  ocean  amidst  ledges  and  projections  of 
rocks ;  of  vegetables  endeavouring  to  cover  with  their 
verdure  the  sandy  beach,  and  the  ruinous  terminations  of 
the  strata ;  and  of  the  ferries,  roads,  and  buildings  su- 
peradded  by  the  industry  of  man.  The  whole  is  termi- 
nated by  a  distant  perspective  through  the  gap  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  distinguish,  of  woods,  hills,  farms,  and  other 
rural  objects.  The  whole  forms  a  rare  and  admirable 
display  of  the  productions  of  art  and  of  nature. 

10.  The  breach  made  by  James*  river. 

The  valley  situated  on  the  head  waters  of  James'  river 
has  apparently  undergone  a  similar  evacuation,  and  the 
lower  country  extending  to  Manchester,  Richmond,  and 
beyond,  has  been  subjected  to  a  corresponding  change 
by  the  gush  and  inundation. 

11.  The  breach  the  widest  of  all,  between  the  Cum- 
berland mountain  and  the  hills  at  or  near  cape  Girardeau, 
beyond  the  Missisippi. 

Over  this  wide  tract,  the  barrier  was  either  high 
enough  to  enclose  the  waters,  or  it  has  yielded  to  their 
impulse,  over  a  broader  space  than  IB  any  other.  It 


PLATE  I. 


Fossil  HUMAN  SKELETON,  found  at  Guadaloupe. 


tr1 

5 

w 


- 


JIT. 


hewing  the' relative  position  «£  the 


• 


*».  f 


OR  CJPPER  BARRIER.  345 

be  noticed  in  the  sequel,  that  the  summit  of  Michil- 
limakinac  contains  the  shells  of  bivalve  molluscas,  and 
consequently  must  have  been  covered  with  water.  The 
supposed  dam  confining  the  water  in  former  ages,  reached 
from  the  extremity  of  the  Cumberland  mountain  to  the 
Missouri  hills.  And  by  the  flood  which  effected  its  de- 
molition, the  vast  tract  behind  it  was  drained,  the  lakes 
Erie,  Huron  and  Michigan  were  formed,  and  the  dry 
land  appeared  around;  while  the  ruins  of  sand  and  soil 
were  carried  down  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  de- 
posited on  the  alluvial  bottom  there. 

These  imperfect  traces  may  serve  to  give  some  con- 
ception of  the  former  geography  of  North  America,  and 
of  the  changes  by  which  that  configuration  has  been 
changed  to  its  present  state. 


A  List  of  some  of  the  Organic  Remains  deposited  by  the  Salt 
Water  before  it  was  drained  off* 

A  middle-sized  oyster,  entire,  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Sackett's  Harbour.  The  shells  are  in  their  proper  si- 
tuation, cohering  in  such  a  manner  as  to  exhibit  a  per- 
fectly natural  appearance.  The  specimen  brought  by 
David  B.  Ogden,  Esq.  is  in  high  preservation. 

From  the  county  of  Ontario,  a  petrified  oyster,  six 
inches  long,  and  four  broad,  was  lately  brought  to  me 
by  Mr.  Isaac  Adriance.  The  valves  of  the  shell  are  a 
little  disclosed,  and  the  space  between  them  filled  with 
a  black  fetid  limestone.  Near  the  opening  where  the 

44 


346  ORGANIC  BODIES  OP  THE  ORIGINAL 

specimen  was  broke  from  the  quarry,  the  stone  exhibits 
a  pecten  and  a  terebratula,  and  an  univalve  shell  resem- 
bling a  turbo. 

The  fountain  of  sulphuretted  water  at  Clifton,  about 
eleven  miles  northwest  of  Geneva,  in  the  county  of  On- 
tario, rises  from  a  rocky  stratum  filled  with  organic  re- 
mains. These  are  mostly  madrepores  of  singular  and 
fantastic  forms,  differing  from  any  at  present  found  fresh 
and  growing  in  the  ocean.  The  limestone  is  of  the  fetid 
kind  (lapis  suillus),  and  abounds  with  sulphur  and  hy- 
drogen. These  sometimes  escape  together,  and  are  some- 
times extricated  in  their  separate  states.  When  they  ac- 
company each  other,  they  make  sulphuretted  hydrogenous 
gas.  When  there  is  no  brimstone,  the  inflammable  air 
rises  without  it,  producing  burning  springs ;  and  when 
there  is  no  hydrogen,  the  sulphur  often  oozes  out  and 
trickles  down  without  it.  Both  are  probably  derived 
from  the  abundant  animal  matter  with  which  the  rock 
abounds. 

Shells  and  impressions  of  scallops  in  the  calcarious 
rocks  around  Sacket's  Harbour  and  in  the  country  ad- 
jacent to  the  Black  river.  The  slab  of  marble  broiight 
by  Major-General  Brown,  is  one  of  the  first-rate  speci- 
mens of  pectinite,  wherein  both  the  shells  and  the  im- 
pressions are  distinguished.  The  forms  are  plain  and 
admirably  traced.  They  differ  from  the  species  now 
found  on  our  shores  in  a  living  condition,  and,  indeed, 
from  every  thing  I  have  seen  in  the  cabinets  and  the 
books.  It  is  not  improbable  their  race  is  extinct. 

Orthocerites  of  large  size,  so  as  to  be  reckoned  by 
some  to  be  the  back  bones  and  ribs  of  sturgeons,  are  fre- 
quent in  the  calcarious  rocks  around  Sackett's  Harbour. 


T<,1 

SALT  LAKES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.        347 

Those  forwarded  by  Dr.  Francis  Le  Baron,  are  bedded 
in  fetid  limestone  of  a  very  dark  colour.  The  spaces 
whence  the  shell  had  disappeared  are  sometimes  filled 
with  white  ealcarious  spar.  The  appearance  of  the  pe- 
trifactions is  thus  very  strikingly  diversified*  In  other 
cases,  the  shell  itself,  though  altered  or  petrified,  re- 
mains. 

Madrepores,  of  various  magnitudes  and  kinds,  occupy 
places  in  the  strata  of  this  ealcarious  carbonate.  The 
central  part  of  a  very  large  one  in  my  collection,  exhibits 
a  kind  of  radiations  intersected  by  concentric  circles. 
Some  of  the  spaces  or  cells  between  them  are  yet  empty, 
and  others  filled  with  a  more  newly  formed  cal carious 
substance.  This  probably  belonged  to  a  species  now 
extinct. 

A  neat  topographical  description  of  this  region  -was 
written  in  1809,  by  Dr.  Hugh  Henderson.  After  having 
been  read  before  the  Central  Medical  Society  at  Albany, 
it  was  printed  in  the  Medical  Repository  at  New- York, 
(vol.  xiv.  p.  21 — 27.)  He  states  expressly,  "  that  there 
are  such  distinct  traces  of  marine  shells  in  all  the  stones 
he  had  yet  seen,  that  he  cannot  resist  the  belief  that 
either  at  the  flood  or  some  period  since,  this  country  has 
been  inundated  by  the  waters  of  the  lake."  This  intelli- 
gent writer  states  in  his  memoir,  the  conjecture,  that  at 
the  Thousand  Islands,  the  attrition  of  the  water  had 
worn  down  the  primitive  rocks  of  granite,  and  reduced 
the  stream  to  its  present  dimensions. 

My  own  observation  has  assured  me  that  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  Little  Falls  on  the  Mohawk,  remains  of 
oceanic  animals  are  found,  sometimes  in  limestone,  some- 
times iu  argillaceous  sbist,  sometimes  in  very  white  sand- 


348       RBLICKS  OF  ANIMALS  FORMERLY  INHABITING 

stone,  through  the  whole  distance  to  Upper  Canada: 
Near  Utica,  encrinites  and  hippurites,  as  well  as  pecti- 
nites,  are  found  in  the  shistic  strata ;  as  are  other  regular 
though  fantastic  forms  of  bodies  evidently  organic.  The 
white  sandstone  of  Cayuga  contains  bivalve  shells,  which 
I  take  to  be  a  species  of  fluted  cardium  or  cockle.  The 
rest  of  these  petrifactions  consist  chiefly  of  marine  shells 
and  madrepores  preserved  in  fetid  limestone.  The  shells 
are  mostly  of  the  bivalve  order,  consisting  of  scallops, 
clams  and  cockles,  with  a  few  oysters,  all  consolidated 
into  rock.  The  madrepores  are  various,  some  repre- 
senting the  forms,  as  the  people  say,  of  buffaloes'  horns ; 
others  of  honey-combs  and  hornets'  nests;  and  others 
again  of  riddles  and  sieves ;  and  other  odd  comparisons, 
as  of  cow  dung,  &c.  all  petrified. 

These  are  so  frequent  and  so  numerous,  that  through 
the  whole  of  this  extensive  region  the  rocks  are  studded 
with  them. 

Near  Oxford,  in  Chenango  county,  New- York,  the 
mould  of  a  very  large  and  singular  terebruin  or  screw 
shell  was  formed  in  a  quarry  of  red  sandstone,  and  for- 
warded to  me  by  the  Hon.  Uri  Tracy. 

Among  the  organic  substances,  those  found  near 
Wilkesbarre,  in  Pennsylvania,  are  not  the  least  curious. 
In  that  vicinity  there  is  an  extensive  formation  of  shining 
coal,  of  the  kind  that  is  somewhat  difficult  to  burn,  and 
which  emits  but  a  small  flame.  The  strata  that  cover  this 
coal  are  a  sort  of  argillaceous  slate,  that  contains  nu- 
merous and  plain  impressions  of  ferns  and  other  capillary 
plants,  and  of  the  bark  of  palm  trees.  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  John  Bradbury  for  the  specimens  which  are  impressed 
with  these  remarkable  characters. 


THE  SALT  LAKES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.  349 

In  relation  to  lake  Ontario,  the  following  statement 
concerning  the  appearances  on  its  southern  side  were 
made  by  Dr.  Clinton,  in  his  address  to  the  Historical 
Society  : 

"  From  near  the  Genesee  river  to  Lewiston,  on  the 
Niagara  river,  there  is  a  remarkable  ridge,  or  elevation 
of  land,  running  almost  the  whole  distance,  which  is 
seventy-eight  miles,  and  in  a  direction  from  east  to  west. 
Its  general  altitude  above  the  neighbouring  land  is  thirty 
feet,  and  its  width  varies  considerably ;  in  some  places 
it  is  not  more  than  forty  yards.  Its  elevation  above  the 
level  of  lake  Ontario  is,  perhaps,  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  to  which  it  descends  by  a  gradual  slope,  and  its 
distance  from  that  water  is  between  six  and  ten  miles. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  remarkable 
ridge  was  the  ancient  boundary  of  this  great  lake.  The 
gravel  with  which  it  is  covered  was  deposited  there  by 
the  waters,  and  the  stones  everywhere  indicate  by  their 
shape  the  abrasion  and  agitation  produced  by  that  ele- 
ment. All  along  the  borders  of  the  western  rivers  and 
lakes  there  are  small  mounds,  and  heaps  of  gravel,  of  a 
conical  form,  erected  by  the  fish  for  the  protection  of 
their  spawn:  these  fish  banks  are  found  at  the  foot  of  the 
ridge,  on  the  side  towards  the  lake;  on  the  opposite  side 
none  have  been  discovered.  All  rivers  and  streams 
which  enter  the  lake  from  the  south  have  their  mouths 
affected  with  sand  in  a  peculiar  way,  from  the  prevalence 
and  power  of  the  northwesterly  winds.  The  points  of 
the  creeks  which  pass  through  the  ridge  correspond  ex- 
actly in  appearance  with  the  entrance  of  the  streams  into 
the  lake.  These  facts  evince,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  lake 
Ontario  has  receded  from  this  elevated  ground ;  and  the 
cause  of  this  retreat  must  be  ascribed  to  its  having  en- 
larged its  former  outlet,  or  to  its  imprisoned  waters 


350  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  ANCIENT  LAKES?. 

'*> 

(aided,  probably,  by  an  earthquake)  forcing  a  passage 
down  the  present  bed  of  the  St.  Lawrence." 

That  enterprising  officer,  Major  Long,  of  the  corps 
of  engineers,  forwarded  to  me  a  box  of  minerals  and 
fossils  from  the  Illinois  river  and  its  vicinity,  and  from 
the  region  adjacent  to  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and 
Mississippi.  Organic  remains  of  bivalve  molluscas,  and 
of  some  other  beings,  probably  animal,  to  me  unknown, 
are  contained  in  the  flinty  masses  along  the  Illinois  its 
whole  course,  from  Chicago,  near  lake  Michigan,  to  the 
Mississippi ;  and  shells  and  madrepores  abound  in  the 
limestone  around  St.  Louis,  and  down  the  Mississippi  to 
St.  Genevieve  and  beyond. 

In  the  geological  chapter  of  the  Picture  of  Cincinnati 
ly  Daniel  Drake,  M*  D.  (p.  64—67),  the  strata  through 
the  extensive  region  of  which  that  district  is  a  part,  are 
represented  as  a  secondary  form — "  a  vast  precipitate 
from  a  lake  or  sea  of  salt-water."  It  is  a  limestone  of 
two  kinds,  one  ancient  and  the  other  modern.  The  lat- 
ter, of  a  grayish-blue  colour,  surrounding  Cincinnati, 
contains,  according  to  this  respectable  writer,  vestiges 
of  the  following  species: 

Anomia  terebratula. 

placenta. 

Belemnites. 

Ammonites. 

Entrochites,  in  flint. 

Corallines,  in  flint  and  limestone. 

Madrepores, 


„  ,  .  always  siliceous. 

Tubipores,     $ 

With  many  other  kinds,  which  Dr.  Drake  supposes  a 
skilful  naturalist  could  ascertain. 


(     351     ) 


Changes  wrought  within  these  Limits  subsequent  to  the  burst- 
ing °f  tht  Barrier,  and  in  consequence  thereof. 

After  the  subsidence  and  removal  of  the  briny  waters 
through  so  many  passages,  the  streams  fed  by  the  rains 
and  springs  retiring  to  their  channels,  seem  to  have 
wrought  other  alterations,  a  few  of  which  deserve  to  be 
mentioned.  Travelling  down  the  inclined  plane  from 
their  several  sources  to  the  new  level  of  the  lakes,  they 
have  given  a  configuration  of  a  more  recent  and  modern 
date  to  the  regions  through  which  they  pass. 

Among  these  are — 

The  falls  and  rapids  in  the  Black  river. 

The  falls  and  rapid*  in  the  Onondago  river,  a  few 
miles  above  Oswego. 

The  fall  in  Salmon  river. 

The  rapids  in  the  Seneca  river,  near  the  outlet  of  the 
Seneca  lake  and  at  Jack's  rift  below. 

The  cataract  in  the  Genesee  river. 

The  grand  cataract  in  Niagara  river,  which,  from  its 
just  celebrity  and  grandeur,  merits  a  more  particular  de- 
scription. There  is  reason  to  believe  it  deepened  its 
channel  through  the  rocks  between  Chippeway  and 
Schlosser,  and  by  that  operation  contributed  further  to 
lower  the  level  of  lakes  Erie,  Huron  and  Michigan. 

The  cataract  has  employed  so  many  pens  and  pencils, 


352  ALTERATIONS  MADE  SINCE 

that  I  should  not  write  any  thing  about  it,  did  it  not  ap- 
pear to  me  that  the  great  chasm  which  the  water  has  form- 
ed in  the  rocks  at  that  place,  discloses  much  of  the  mine- 
ralogy of  the  region,  and  assists  in  forming  correct 
opinions  concerning  the  geology  of  this  section  of  the 
globe.  The  delineation  by  Mr.  Weld  is  reputable  to 
him ;  and  his  pages  and  illustrations  instructive.  The 
account  by  Mr.  Volney  is  intelligent ;  and  his  plans  per- 
spicuous. The  paintings  and  prints  of  Mr.  Vanderlyn, 
are  pieces  which  present  to  the  eye,  all  that  can  be  ex- 
pected from  landscape.  The  description  of  Mr.  M'Kin- 
nen,  although  it  is  almost  as  much  a  picture  of  his  own 
emotions  as  of  the  scenes  around  him,  is  nevertheless  in- 
genious and  interesting. 

On  exploring  the  strata  laid  bare  by  the  cataract,  their 
argillaceous,  calcarious  and  siliceous  character  immedi- 
ately struck  me.  I  was  careful  to  bring  away  specimens 
of  each;  and  these,  at  all  times  and  distances,  enable  me 
to  substantiate  my  own  description  of  the  grand  falls. 

The  lowest  of  the  strata  as  yet  reached,  is  the  rock 
called  by  geologists  old  red  sandstone.  It  is  composed 
of  quartzy  particles,  with  a  cement  of  clay  and  iron. 
The  latter  being  in  the  form  of  reddish  brown  oxyd,  im- 
parts its  colour  to  the  rock.  Below  the  ridge  which 
crosses  the  stream  at  Lewistown  and  Queenstown,  the 
layers  of  this  ancient  sandstone  make  their  appearance. 
It,  in  all  probability,  underlays  the  slate,  limestone,  and 
soil,  to  a  great  extent. 

The  next  layers  of  earthy  matter  at  the  falls  are  com- 
posed of  slate,  or  shistus.  This  is  very  friable,  and  crack- 
ed into  numberless  pieces.  It  has  so  little  cohesion  that 
the  fragments  can  be  easily  picked  out  by  the  fingers. 


THE  UPPER  BARRIER  WAS  BROKEN.  353 

It  is  Constantly  dropping  off  or  wearing  away.  Its  fallen 
portions  constitute  a  part  of  the  loose  gravel  through 
which  the  traveller  labours,  beneath.  This  substance 
yields  to  mechanical,  and  chemical  agency  more  readily 
than  the  harder  strata  which  it  supports.  It  therefore  un- 
dergoes excavation,  while  the  superior  and  firmer  strata 
of  limestone  project  and  overhang,  until  they  break  off 
by  their  own  weight.  Owing  to  this  abrasion  or  decay 
of  the  brittle  shistus,  the  calcarious  rocks  above,  jut  far 
beyond  their  present  base,  and  threaten  him  who  takes 
shelter  below  them.  Masses  of  various  sizes,  from  small 
stones  to  rocks  of  many  tons  weight,  have  fallen  from  the 
summit  thus  undermined,  and  now  occupy  the  space  at  its 
foot.  As  the  excavating  or  undermining  process  goes  on, 
other  pieces  will  be  detached,  and  the  chasm  be  propor- 
tionally enlarged.  This  foundation  of  slate  is  of  vast  ex- 
tent in  these  parts  of  North  America.  Shistus  emerges 
from  the  strata  of  granite  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  at 
Newburgh  and  Fishkill,  and  underlays  the  limestone  to 
the  northward  of  both;  as  well  as  the  sandstone  of  the 
Catskill  mountains.  Travelling  north,'  it  shows  itself 
again  at  the  water-falls  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Albany, 
and  at  the  village  of  Waterford.  The  same  kind  of  ar- 
gillaceous slate  prevails  beyond  Stillwater  to  the  falls  of 
Fort  Edward,  and  supports  the  limestone  over  which  the 
Hudson  at  Glen's  falls  is  precipitated.  Turning  west- 
ward, the  s'histus,  over  which  the  Mohawk  river  falls  at 
the  Cohoez,  is  covered  with  granitical  stones  and  rocks 
from  Schenectady  to  Palatine  ;  and  at  the  latter  place, 
by  a  limestone  that  is  replete  with  petrifactions.  At  the 
little  falls  where  the  lock-navigation  has  been  opened, 
huge  strata  of  a  compact,  striated,  dusky  and  ferruginous 
quartz  conceal  it.  At  Utica  a  coarse,  granulated,  sili- 
ceous sandstone  overspreads  it.  But  at  Oriscany  the 
siate  again  makes  its  appearance,  and  continues  until  the 

45 


354  GEOLOGICAL  APPEARANCES 

limestone  incrusts  it,  west  of  the  Oneida  reservation,  in 
the  town  of  Sullivan.  And  it  probably  extends  under 
the  calcarious  strata  quite  to  Niagara  river,  and  an  un- 
known distance  into  Canada.  At  the  former  place,  the 
impetuous  action  of  the  water  has  exposed  its  deep  stra- 
tification. Shistic  rock  abounds  in  the  region  between 
the  Hudson  and  the  Mohawk  ;  for  at  Ballstown,  some  of 
the  branches  of  the  Kayaderossras  have  washed  the  strata 
bare.  And  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Quebec 
to  Kingston  on  Lake  Ontario,  demonstrate  the  prevalence 
of  the  slate  as  the  extensive  substratum  in  all  that  tract  of 
country. 

The  rocks  which  press  the  layers  of  friable  shistus  at 
Niagara,  are  limestone.  They  are  disposed  horizontally, 
and  are  of  the  flat  or  tabular  form.  Their  strength  and 
compactness  enables  them  to  overhang  the  banks,  after 
their  foundation  of  brittle  slate  has  been  removed.  One 
of  the  most  prominent  and  durable  of  these  strata  is  the 
table-rock.  This  is  much  frequented  as  a  favourable  spot 
for  observing  the  magnificent  scenery  from  above.  While 
it  lasts,  it  is  worthy  of  being  resorted  to,  for  the  advan- 
tages of  the  prospect  it  affords.  And  it  may  be  regretted, 
that  it  will  be  spoiled  whenever  the  slate  beneath  shall  be 
so  far  worn  away  as  to  render  the  incumbent  strata  of 
calcarious  matter  incapable  of  supporting  their  own 
weight.  The  projecting  portions  will  break  off,  and  de- 
scend by  their  gravity  to  the  subjacent  mass  of  ruins* 
The  fear  of  danger  to  a  spectator  standing  upon  such  a 
ponderous  shelf,  and  surveying  his  situation  when  above, 
is  not  surpassed  by  the  solemn  apprehension  he  expe- 
riences from  its  imminent  and  awful  aspect  when  below. 

In  these  calcarious  strata,  the  carbonate  of  lime  pre- 
dominates. This,  however,  is  not  a  mere  mixture  of 


AT  THE  FALLS  OP  NIAGARA.  355 

fixed  air  with  an  earthy  calx.  The  rock  on  being  rub- 
bed or  broken,  emits  a  fetid  or  sulphureous  odour; 
evincing  that  it  is  a  swine-stone  or  lapis  suillus.  This 
disagreeable  smell  attends  the  limestone  in  this  and  the 
adjacent  regions.  I  possess  pieces  of  it  charged  with 
martial  pyrites.  And  the  sulphur,  clay  and  iron  of  this 
association,  are  intimately  blended  with  the  calcarious 
carbonate.  The  existence  of  pyritical  limestone  ex- 
plains how,  by  the  decomposition  of  the  pyrites,  sulphuric 
acid  is  produced,  and  gypsum  formed. 

The  calcarious  nature  of  the  upper  rocks  is  evinced 
by  the  fact,  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  great  cata- 
ract as  well  as  at  the  whirlpool  five  miles  down  the  river, 
and  at  Queenstown,  two  miles  further,  the  inhabitants 
burn  them  into  lime  for  economical  purposes.  But 
the  material  is  not  always  indeterminate  or  shapeless. 
It  assumes  beautiful  crystalline  forms.  Rhomboidal  and 
cubical  crystals  are  formed  on  its  surface,  and  in  its  cavi- 
ties. The  former  are  of  a  milkwhite  colour,  with  ob- 
lique angles.  The  latter  are  less  frequent,  generally 
found  in  the  same  clusters  with  the  others,  of  an  almost 
rectangular  figure,  and  of  a  semi-transparent  complexion. 
Other  crystals  shoot  along  the  vacuities  of  the  limestone ; 
some  of  an  imperfect  hexangular  shape,  and  others  in 
clumps  of  acute  six-sided  crystals,  both  having  a  resem- 
blance to  the  dog's-tooth-spar.  All  these  are  probably 
modifications  of  the  calcarious  carbonate,  by  admixtures 
of  magnesia,  iron,  silex,  and  perhaps  some  other  ingre- 
dients. 

The  layers  of  limestone  are  interspersed  with  small 
masses  or  lumps  of  gypsum.  This  is  generally  of  a 
snowy  whiteness,  and  indeterminate  figure.  But  it  is 
sometimes  finely  semi-pellucid  and  lamellar.  It  is  mis- 


356  GEOLOGICAL  APPEARANCES 

taken  by  the  people  for  the  petrified  froth  of  the  river, 
It  seems  to  be  formed  in  consequence  of  a  decomposi- 
tion of  the  pyrites  imbedded  in  some  parts  of  the  rock. 
The  sulphuric  acid  to  which  this  process  gives  rise*  ex- 
pels the  carbonic  acid,  and  unites  with  the  limestone  by 
Virtue  of  a  more  powerful  attraction.  Thus  the  com- 
mon limestone  is  converted  into  plaster  of  paris ;  or  in 
chemical  language,  the  carbonate  of  lime  is  changed  in- 
to a  sulphate.  The  two  compounds  very  commonly 
exist  together,  the  limestone  and  gypsum  cohering  and 
making  parts  of  one  mineral  mass.  In  some  rills  where 
the  brimstone  appears  not  to  have  been  combined  with 
oxygen,  it  oozes  out  with  the  water,  and  discolours  the 
rocks.  Thus  native  sulphur  and  calcarious  sulphurets, 
may  be  enumerated  among  the  natural  products  of  Nia- 
gara. 

The  siliceous  ingredients  in  the  rocks  hereabout  con- 
sist mostly  of  quartz  and  flint.  The  quartz  is  sometimes 
mingled  with  the  calcarious  carbonate  in  such  quantity 
as  to  give  sparks  with  steel ;  forming  a  sort  of  siliceous 
limestone.  In  other  cases  it  exists  in  veins  or  streaks  al- 
most unmixed.  And  lastly  it  bespangles  the  surface  with 
elegant  crystals,  hard  enough  to  scratch  glass.  The  flint 
at  the  falls  is  whitish ;  but  near  the  outlet  of  lake  Erie  it 
is  blackish.  In  both  places  it  is  distinctly  bedded  in  the 
limestone;  and  their  quantity  is  relatively  small,  particu- 
larly at  the  former  place.  At  the  latter,  the  colour  of 
the  flint  has  concurred  with  that  of  the  calcarious 
strata  in  which  it  is  immerged,  to  obtain  for  the  spot  the 
name  of  Black  rock.  This  stone  breaks  with  the  conca- 
vo-convex fracture ;  and  answers  very  well  to  furnish 
fire-stones  for  muskets.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  chemi- 
cally incorporated  with  the  limestone ;  but  to  be  laid  in 
it  as  pebbles  are  scattered  through  breccias.  It  puts  me 


AT  THE  FALLS  OF  NIAGARA.  357 

in  mind  of  the  nodules  of  flint,  contained  in  the  chalk-pits 
of  Kent  and  Surry,  near  London.  The  flint  and  lime- 
stone at  Erie  lie  contiguous  without  mixture ;  and  may 
be  broken  out  in  their  respective  forms  quite  distinct. 
And  this  connexion  of  them  continues  eastwardly,  far 
into  the  Seneca-prairies,  or  Buffalo  Plains. 

Such  is  the  constitution  of  the  solid  strata  at  Niagara, 
and  in  its  vicinity.  The  uppermost  are  horizontal  and 
tabular.  When  a  stratum  is  discontinued,  its  termination 
is  abrupt,  forming  a  sudden  descent.  This  descent,  at 
any  one  place,  is  proportional  to  the  thickness  of  the  stra- 
tum. Several  of  these  strata  break  off  in  this  manner, 
about  half  way  between  Chippeway  and  the  grand  cata- 
ract. And  they  continue  their  interruptions  to  the  even- 
ness of  the  channel,  the  whole  distance  beyond.  At 
each  termination  the  river  treads  lower,  and  skips  and 
dances  along  to  the  next.  It  marches  down  this,  and 
proceeds  to  the  succeeding  one.  Then  it  runs  from 
stage  to  stage,  until,  after  a  gradual  and  majestic  progress 
of  a  mile,  gathering  force  and  velocity  at  every  step,  it 
leaps  from  the  high  and  final  precipice* 

The  mighty  and  immeasurable  torrent  dashes  upon  a 
ledge  of  detached  and  enormous  rocks,  the  fragments  of 
the  superior  strata  that  have  been  broken  off,  and  preci- 
pitated in  the  course  of  ages.  All  the  pieces  which  the 
vehement  and  unceasing  current  can  stir,  are  washed 
away.  None  remain  but  those  that  are  too  heavy  for 
removal.  These  form  a  rough  and  broken  bottom  for  the 
floods  to  rush  upon.  Their  solidity  and  size  cheek  the 
impetuosity  of  the  headlong  river.  Their  crags  convert 
a  part  of  it  into  mist,  which  rises  like  an  exhalation  to  an 
altitude  sufficient  to  be  seen  for  many  miles,  and  which 
bedews  the  adjacent  district  with  a  moisture  resembling 


358  GEOLOGICAL  APPEARANCES 

rain.  On  the  Canada  side,  they  are  in  a  great  degree 
concealed  from  sight  by  the  foaming  water,  and  the  rising 
spray  that  invest  them.  But  on  the  New-York  side, 
where  the  height  of  the  fall  is  greater  and  the  quantity 
of  water  smaller,  owing  to  a  dip  to  the  west  or  rather 
northwest,  the  inferior  ledge  o£  rocks  can  be  better  dis- 
cerned as  they  lie  piled  upon  each  other  in  all  the  rude- 
ness of  accidental  disposition ;  these  form  a  barrier  to 
protect  the  basis  of  slate  and  sandstone  from  the  assault 
of  the  water.  By  the  intervention  of  these  impassive 
heaps,  the  shistus,  notwithstanding  its  shattered  constitu- 
tion, maintains  its  ground  remarkably,  and  yields  but 
slowly.  Yet,  under  the  operation  of  such  powerful 
causes,  it  gives  way  at  last,  though  only  inch  by  inch. 
In  consequence  of  this  moderate,  but  certain  removal  of 
the  shistic  foundation,  the  calcarious  strata  are  at  length 
deprived  of  their  support,  and  yards  and  perches,  as  is 
believed,  of  their  extremities  have  disappeared  within 
the  recollection  of  persons  now  alive. 

By  this  means  the  cataract  seems  to  have  moved  its 
place,  and  not  to  have  been  stationary  at  any  one  point. 
Beyond  a  doubt,  it  is  proceeding  up  the  stream,  and 
drawing  nearer  to  Chippeway  and  Erie.  And  if  in  its 
early  existence,  it  thundered  where  Q,ueenstown  now  is, 
it  must  have  worn  its  way  about  seven  miles  in  the  lapse 
of  centuries,  to  its  present  seat.  Strange  as  this  conjec- 
ture may  appear,  to  many  it  really  violates  no  probability. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  countenanced  by  several  impor- 
tant considerations.  A  little  above  that  village,  the  plain 
which  reaches  northwardly  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie, 
ceases.  There  is  a  rapid  declivity  to  another  plain 
which  Extends  to  Ontario.  The  difference  of  these 
levels  is  rather  more  than  the  height  of  the  falls.  The 
beholder  is  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the  river  once 


AT  THE  FALLS  OF  NIAGARA.  359 

ran  to  this  natural  limit,  and  there  descended  to  its  lower 
bed.  If  this  really  was  the  fact,  it  could  not  have  con- 
tinued to  flow  for  ever  there.  The  deep  foundation  is 
the  same  species  of  sandstone  and  shattered  slate  which 
sustains  the  strata  where  the  falls  now  are.  The  incum- 
bent beds  of  rock  are  but  continuations  of  those  very 
calcarious  layers ;  with  the  addition  of  some  siliceous 
sandstone  between  the  top  and  bottom,  along  the  decli- 
vity of  Queenstown.  What  marvel  then  that  the  river 
should  have  opened  for  itself  its  present  profound  chan-- 
nei  through  rocks  of  such  a  stratification  and  so  consti- 
tuted ?  There  cannot  be  a  moment's  hesitation  in  the 
mind  of  every  examiner  to  admit  the  readiness  with 
which  the  slaty  strata,  cracked  through  with  innumerable 
flaws,  would  be  dislodged  by  the  force  of  such  an  agent. 
Their  minute  fragments  of  loosely  cohering  particles, 
would  immediately  be  carried  along  by  the  tide.  By 
attrition  they  would  be  worn  away,  and  lay  aside  their 
shistic  form  on  returning  to  argillaceous  powder.  Thus 
the  strata  of  slate  would  naturally  disappear  and  leave  a 
passage  for  the  waters.  In  the  meanwhile  the  limestone, 
deprived  of  its  support  beneath,  would  separate  piece- 
meal and  tumble  into  the  abyss.  Every  person  of  science 
knows  that  calcarious  earth  is  soluble  in  water,  and  that 
it  is  liable  also  to  alteration  through  the  chemical  and 
mechanical  agencies  to  which  it  is  subjected.  The  firm- 
est limestone  will,  after  sufficient  agitation  and  exposure, 
lose  its  coherence  and  be  transformed  to  sand,  or  vanish 
in  solution.  In  either  case,  whether  the  rocks  are  pul- 
verized or  dissolved,  the  greater  impediments  are  remov- 
ed and  an  opening  made  for  the  river.  And  really  when 
it  is  considered  what  vast  power  water  possesses  as  a 
menstruum,  and  how  irresistibly  it  acts  by  impulse,  there 
will  be  reason  enough  to  conclude  that  the  channel  from 
Queenstown  to  Chippe  way  may  have  been  worn  between 


360  CHANGES  WROUGHT  SINCE 

its  rugged  banks  by  that  agent.  It  will  be  equally  evi- 
dent that  the  work  is  by  no  means  suspended ;  but  that 
the  wear  and  tear  is  incessantly  going  on. 

B.  F.  Stickney,  Esq.  has  written  some  valuable  geo- 
logical observations  on  the  middle  lakes  or  seas  of  North 
America.  He  states  that  the  elevation  of  the  land  be- 
tween Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  levels  does  not  ex- 
ceed eighteen  feet;  and  that  boats  pass,  three  or  four 
months  of  the  year,  without  difficulty.  This  ingenious 
inquirer  asks,  whether  a  dam,  twenty  or  more  feet  high, 
across  the  strait  of  Niagara,  would  not  raise  the  middle 
lakes  high  enough  to  discharge  by  the  southwest  toward 
the  gulf  of  Mexico?  It  violates  no  probability  to  sup- 
pose it  formerly  was  so. 

The  falls  of  the  Ohio  near  Louisville  and  the  Rapids, 
and  its  numerous  and  tributary  rivers  and  streams  from 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Ohio  State,  Kentucky,  Illinois 
and  Indiana,  all  hurrying  down  their  slopes  with  increas- 
ed velocity  and  force,  and  producing  constant  changes 
by  their  alterations,  torrents,  and  floods. 

And  lastly,  I  enumerate  in  this  place  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony  in  the  Mississippi,  as  situated  within  the  limits 
circumscribed  by  the  great  dam  or  barrier  already 
traced. 

Besides  these  traits  of  our  country's  character,  by  the 
evacuation  of  the  great  inland  sea,  by  the  formation  of 
alluvions  at  the  several  openings  and  places  of  rupture, 
by  the  production  of  rivers  within  the  region  anciently 
occupied  by  that  sea,  and  by  the  appearance  in  the  un- 
covered rocks  of  marine  productions  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  tract ;  there  is  another  class  of  phenomena* 


THE  UPPER  BARRIER  WAS  BROKEN.      361 

relating  to  the  organic  remains  of  a  later  date.  These 
embrace  the  remains  of  land  animals,  found  in  a  fossil 
state,  not  imbedded  in  the  rocks,  but  simply  buried  in 
the  loose  soil. 

Kentucky  has  been  distinguished  almost  ever  since  its 
discovery  by  white  men,  for  the  extraordinary  number 
and  size  of  the  bones  found  at  different  depths,  from  one 
foot  to  twenty  feet,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Licks, 
or  places  resorted  to  by  wild  animals  to  regale  them- 
selves with  the  briny  water  that  oozes  out  at  those  spots. 
The  place  most  celebrated  for  these  animal  remains,  and 
particularly  for  those  of  the  Great  Mastodon,  or  Ameri- 
can Mammoth,  is  generally  distinguished  by  geographers 
as  the  Big-Bone-Lick. 

This  spot  was  profoundly  explored  by  Governor 
Clarke,  in  1807,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  then 
president  of  the  United  States;  a  citizen  who  has  already 
received  the  applause  of  the  learned  and  the  wise,  by 
the  exertions  which  he  made,  himself,  to  promote  natural 
and  physical  inquiries,  and  by  the  employment  of  compe- 
tent persons  in  various  instances  to  explore  the  unknown 
regions  of  North  America.  After  the  return  of  the  for- 
mer gentleman  from  the  expedition  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 
in  1806,  he  caused  the  soil  of  the  Big-Bone-Licks  to  be 
dug  up.  Bones  were  found  in  great  number  and  variety. 
They  were  carefully  enclosed  in  boxes,  and  forwarded 
to  Washington  City,  in  the  district  of  Columbia,  by  the 
way  of  New-Orleans.  They  arrived  in  safety  about 
March,  1808.  Being  then  a  senator  in  congress,  I 
had  repeated  opportunities  of  seeing  the  whole  collec- 
tion displayed  in  the  president's  house,  and  of  hearing 
Mr.  Jefferson  discourse  upon  them.  I  understood  that 
Me  made  a  triple  division  of  them,  sending  one-third  to 

46 


362  FOSSIL  REMAINS  WITHIN       J^  . 

the  American  Philosophical  Society,  at  Philadelphia,  of 
which  he  was  then  the  presiding  officer ;  forwarding  one- 
third  to  the  National  Institute  of  France,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  foreign  associates ;  and  reserving  the  re- 
mainder for  his  own  museum. 

This  extraordinary  assemblage  of  fossil  bones,  I  ar? 
range  under  the  following  heads :    1.  Many  dozens  of 
the  smaller  bones,  apparently  of  the  mastodon,  which 
seemed  to  have  belonged  to  the  feet.     2.  Bones  of  the 
legs,  discovered  partly  in  connexion  with  the  former, 
and  partly  scattered  as  they  were,  through  the  soil.     3. 
Bones  of  the  head  and  upper-jaw,  which  afforded  expec- 
tation that  more  would  have  been  learned  from  them 
than  was  before  known,  of  the  structure  of  these  perish- 
able parts.     4.  Two  kinds  of  teeth,  of  very  large  size, 
and  detached  from  the  jaws ;  some  of  these  teeth  evident- 
ly belonged  to   the  mastodon,   being  distinguished  by 
their  elevated  processes ;  while  others  more  nearly  re- 
sembled the  elephant's  grinders.     5.  Fragments  of  lower 
maxillary  bones,  containing  the  grinders  fixed  in  their 
sockets.     These  jaws  were  mostly  broken  through  the 
symphysis  of  the  chin,  and  none  of  them  were  entire. 
6.  An  enormous  outer  tooth  or  tusk,  resembling  that  of 
the  elephant.     It  consisted  of  ivory;  but  had  laid  so 
long  in  the  ground,  that  it  was  decayed  at  both  extremi- 
ties.    The  curve   was  a   singular  sort  of   spire.     The 
ivory,  on  account  of  the  decay  it  had  undergone,  flaked 
off,  like  layers  of  rotten  wood.     7.  Several  small  tusks, 
the  smallest  of  which  was  about  three  feet  long.     They 
are  of  remarkable  specific  gravity,  decayed  and  broken 
at  the  ends,  and  disposed  to  split  and  crumble  to  pieces 
by  the  exposure  to  the  air.     8.  Ribs,  of  the  shape  com- 
mon to  the  skeletons  of  mastodons.     9.  Very  large  ver- 
tebras.    10.  The  skulls  of  buffaloes  or  bisons,  with  the 


THE  LIMITS  Off  THE  UPPER  BARRIER.  363 

bony  cores  of  their  horns.     The  horns  were  missing,  but 
the  bony  enclosure  very  entire. 

Kentucky  abounds  with  marine  relicks.  In  my  pos- 
session is  an  echinus  of  the  family  galerite.  It  was  found 
fossil,  and  so  charged  with  siliceous  particles,  as  to  be 
insoluble  in  acids.  I  received  several  of  them  from  Dr. 
Samuel  Brown,  and  Professor  Woodhouse.  They  are 
detached,  and  about  the  size  of  a  middling  acorn. 

In  Indiana,  bones  of  the  like  huge  creature  were  found 
July,  1817,  in  the  east  branch  of  the  White  river,  a  stream 
emptying  into  the  Wabash,  at  a  point  distant  forty-four 
miles  in  a  right  line  from  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash. 
This  east  branch  unites  with  the  west  branch,  at  a  point 
twenty-nine  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  the  mouth  of  the 
White  river.  The  intelligence  was  communicated  to 
me  by-  Josiah  Meigs,  Esq.  commissioner  of  the  general 
land  office,  in  the  treasury  department  of  the  United 
States,  who  received  it  from  Mr.  Spotts,  living  near 
the  falls  of  East  Branch.  These  consisted,  it  is  stated, 
among  others,  of  the  upper  jaw,  whose  width  from  out- 
side to  outside,  was  20  |  inches ;  length  25  inches ;  length 
of  the  posterior  grinder,  (composed  of  5  divisions  in  3 
rows)  7  £  inches ;  breadth  of  the  same  across,  5  J. 

The  accounts  published  of  similar  remains  of  mam- 
moths, found  near  Bedford,  in  Pennsylvania,  belong  to 
this  place  ;  because  they  show  that  these  animals  inhabit- 
ed the  land  after  the  sea  had  retired,  and  it  had  become 
a  fit  abode  for  terrestrial  quadrupeds. 

The  celebrated  tusk  found  at  Chenanga,  in  New- York, 
near  the  point  where  the  Susquehannah  passes  into  Penn- 
sylvania, evidently  belonged  to  an  animal  of  the  same 


364       ANCIENT  DAMS  AND  LAKES  ON  THE 

species ;    a  quadruped  of  the  elephantine  family,  now 
probably  extinct. 

Of  this  species  appears  to  be  the  animal,  whose  remains 
were  brought  by  Major  Craig  from  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio,  in  1786.  They  consisted  of  a  thigh-bone,  part  of 
a  tusk,  and  a  portion  of  the  jaw  with  the  grinders.  They 
were  figured  by  Colonel  De  Brahm,  and  published  in  the 
Columbian  Magazine,  at  Philadelphia,  vol.  I.  p.  103 — lOf. 


Lakes  and  Dams,  which  formerly  existed  on  the  outside  of  the 
cordon  or  barrier  already  described. 

Though  these  supposed  collections  of  water  were  si- 
tuated on  the  outside  of  the  dam  herein-before  traced,  as 
reaching  from  the  Thousand  Isles,  in  Canada,  round  to 
Cape  Girardeau,  in  Missouri,  yet  they  appear  to  have 
given  to  the  country  a  character  and  configuration  too 
important  to  be  omitted  in  this  memoir. 

1.  The  lakes,  breaches  and  alluvions  of  Connecticut 
river. 

Some  persons  suppose  that  a  dam  existed  in  former 
days  at  Bellas'  falls.  If  so,  there  must  have  been  a 
lake  above  them.  When  that  lake  was  exhausted  or  run 
out,  dry  land  was  brought  to  view,  and  a  wash  of  move- 
able  matters  carried  to  the  region  below. 

If  we  can  suppose  that  there  was  once,  at  one  or  more 
places  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  higher  up 
than  Hartford,  dams  and  lakes,  then  it  will  be  evi- 
dent that  the  breaking  or  disrupture  of  such  dams 
would  inundate  the  lower  country,  and  cover  it  with  a 


OUTSIDE  OP  THE  UPPER  BARRIER,  36*5 

mixture  of  alluvial  matter  mingled  with  detached  masses 
of  primitive  rocks. 

It  is  agreed  by  all  our  geologists,  that  the  region 
situated  on  both  sides  of  Connecticut  river,  and  extend- 
ing from  the  northern  line  of  Massachusetts  to  Long- 
Island  Sound,  is  secondary  or  alluvial.  They  may 
inquire  further  whether  there  is  any  connexion  between 
such  ancient  bursting  of  dams,  and  the  deposition  of 
earthy  and  rocky  materials  in  the  spaces  below  them* 
Should  the  secondary  formation  thereabout  be  not  refer- 
able to  this  cause,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  ascribing 
to  it,  a  part  of  the  alluvial  character  of  the  tract. 

Here  I  may  mention  the  impressions  or  forms  of  fossil 
fish,  found  in  the  town  of  Glastonbury.  They  are  con- 
tained in  a  black  bituminous  shist  interspersed  with  fine 
particles  of  mica.  Though  in  the  specimens  I  possess, 
the  tail,  scales,  and  fins,  are  perfectly  distinguishable,  the 
specimens  are  too  much  broken  to  enable  me  to  decide 
upon  the  genus  and  species.  My  exertions  to  procure 
an  entire  ichthyolite  from  that  place  have  not  as  yet  been 
successful. 

2.  The  falls,  breaches,  and  derelictions  of  the  Hudson. 

About  fifty  miles  north  of  Albany,  near  Kingsbury,  is 
a  very  picturesque  and  magnificent  scene.  The  whole 
waters  of  the  Hudson  fall  down  a  considerable  steep. 
ThB  country  from  about  two  or  three  miles  above  the 
falls,  called  Glens'  falls,  to  some  distance  below  them, 
abounds  with  calcarious  rocks,  and  with  a  sort  of  black 
trap.  They  are  at  that  place  the  upper  strata,  and  rest 
upon  the  shistus  or  slate,  which  forms  here,  as  at  other 
parts  of  New-York  state,  the  solid  mass  of  earthy  mate- 


366  FALLS,  BREACHES,  AND 

rials  below.  A  thick  and  massy  bed  of  this  rock  crosses 
the  river  a  little  above  the  place  where  it  descends.  The 
rock  there  divides  itself  into  so  many  distinct  masses, 
that  when  the  water  is  low  or  scanty,  it  runs  through 
four  different  chasms  between  the  walls.  When  the  river 
is  swelled  with  rains,  all  these  fissures  and  interposing 
mounds  are  covered  up,  and  the  distinction  of  current  is 
in  some  measure  lost  for  about  half  the  distance  of  their 
irregular  descent.  The  streams  then  assume  a  new  mo- 
dification, and  arrive  at  the  bottom  by  three  principal 
channels.  The  rocks  which  directs  the  courses  of  the 
waters,  and  separate  their  currents,  are  almost  as  horizon- 
tal as  if  they  had  been  laid  by  a  level.  In  several 
places  they  are  very  abrupt,  and  terminate  with  the  per- 
pendicularity of  a  wall.  Between  them  are  the  profound 
openings  through  which  the  torrents  force  their  way. 

These  strata  abound  in  shells  and  madrepores.  In 
the  lowest  they  are  least  conspicuous.  In  the  mid- 
dle layers  they  are  plainer;  aad  most  distinguishable 
above.  The  collection  of  fossil  specimens  made  by  Mr. 
Miibert  and  Trecot,  now  in  my  possession,  afford  beauti- 
ful illustrations  of  this  distribution  of  organic  relicks 
through  the  rocks. 

Other  features  of  this  region  are  equally  remarkable* 
The  surrounding  scenery  is  a  medley  of  detached 
granite  and  gneiss,  with  sand,  and  other  loose  allu- 
vial materials.  These  evidently  were  washed  down 
from  Hadley,  when  the  enclosed  waters  removed  their 
barrier,  and  bore  every  thing  before  them  to  this 
lower  country. 

At  Fort  Edward  Falls,  the  bed  of  the  Hudson  is  slate. 
This  shistic  bottom  is  visible  all  the  distance,  wherever 


DERELICTIONS  OF  THE  HUDSON.        367 

the  sand  and  gravel  have  been  washed  off,  to  Troy,  and 
the  great  falls  of  the  Mohawk.     The  fine  scenery  along 
the  Hudson  at  Glen's  and  Hadley's  falls,  has  been  so  ele- 
gantly sketched  by  Mr.  Milbert,  that  his  paintings  give 
interest  to  geology.     The  descent  of  the  river  toward 
tide-water  at  Troy,  is  interrupted  by  several  smaller  falls 
and  rapids  running  over  layers  of  slaty  rock.     This  con- 
tinues until  the  Mohawk  joins  it  from  the  west.     Their 
united  current  passes  along  without  any  memorable  im- 
pediment until  it  arrives  at  the  Highlands,  a  range  of 
mountains  crossing  it  a  little  to  the  southward  of  New- 
burgh  and  Fishkill.     They  are  composed  chiefly  of  gra- 
nite and  gneiss,   abounding  in   loose  nodules  and  .solid 
veins  of  magnetical  iron  ore.     The  width  of  the  chain 
may  be  rated  at  about  sixteen  miles.     The  height  of  the 
most  elevated  peaks  have  been  ascertained  barometrically 
by  Captain  Alden  Patridge,  of  the  corps  of  artillerists 
and  engineers.     According  to  his  observations,  Butter- 
Hill,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  is  1529  feet  above 
tide-water,  and  the  new  Beaco.n  1565  feet. 

This  thick  and  solid  barrier  seems  in  ancient  days  to 
have  impeded  the  course  of  the  water,  and  to  have  raised 
a  lake  high  enough  to  cover  all  the  country  to  Quaker- 
Hill  and  the  Taconick  mountains  on  the  east,  and  to  the 
Shawangunk  and  the  Catskill  mountains  on  the  west. 
This  lake  may  be  calculated  to  have  extended  to  the 
Little  Falls  of  the  Mohawk,  and  to  Hadley  Falls  on  the 
Hudson.  Geometrical  surveys,  and  geological  facts, 
countenance  the  belief,  that  a  lake  covered  the  whole 
space  between  the  mountains  on  the  east  side  of  lake 
George  and  the  Green  Mountains  in  Vermont,  and  made  a 
continued  body  of  water  to  lake  Champlain,  as  far  above 
Montreal,  as  the  foot  of  the  aneient  barrier  already  de- 
§cribed  as  having  existed  anciently  at  the  Thousand 


368       THE  LOWER  OR  OUTER  BARRIER. 

Islands.  The  information  given  me  by  Colonel  Garin,  a 
skilful  engineer,  employed  by  the  canal  commissioners, 
in  1816,  to  explore  the  region  between  the  Hudson  and 
the  lake  Champlain,  warrants  this  conclusion.  Indeed, 
such  an  overflow  of  the  country  is  the  unavoidable  con- 
sequence, that  an  obstruction  of  the  water  by  the  High- 
land mountains  in  New- York  would  produce. 

"  Upon  this  supposition,  what  mound  or  dam  would  cir- 
cumscribe the  lake  or  sea,  on  the  northwest,  north,  north- 
east and  east  ? 

If  our  physical  geographers  are  correct  in  their  deli- 
neations, a  barrier  to  the  waters  can  easily  be  found. 
Such  as,  for  example,  the  ridge  that  bounds  the  Seigneu- 
ries,  and  their  augmentations  of  land  N.  W,  of  the  river 
St.  Lawrence,  and  separates  them  from  the  waste  or  un- 
granted  territory  of  the  British  crown,  all  the  distance 
from  the  Grand,  or  Ottowa  river,  in  Upper  Canada,  to 
the  sources  of  the  rivers  JaCques  Cartier,  and  Charles, 
not  very  far  from  Quebec  in  the  lower  province.  And 
such  is  the  height  of  ground,  elevated  though  broken, 
which  extends  through  the  rough  country,  beyond  the 
river  Chandiere,  from  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  to .  the 
mountains  of  Maine  and  New-Hampshire. 

Some  opinion  may  be  formed  of  this  disruption  by  the 
considerations  of  that  sensible  traveller,  Joseph  Sansom, 
Esq.  describing  the  Plain  of  Abraham,  near  Quebec.  He 
observes  thus:  turning  round  when  you  arrive  at  the 
summit,  and  looking  down  the  river,  between  the  two 
steeples  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  Cathedrals,  you 
have  what  I  thought  the  most  interesting  view  of  Que- 
bec, because  it  embraces  in  the  same  coup-cf  otf,  the  prin- 
cipal objects  in  the  vicinity.  Overlooking  the  basin 


THE  OUTER  OR  LOWER  BARRIER.       369 

which  is  six  miles  wide,  you  behold  the  Island  of  Orleans, 
stretched  out  before  you,  till  it  terminates  in  undistin- 
guishing  haze,  whilst  on  the  left  you  have  the  north 
coast,  rising  gradually  into  distant  mountains,  from  which 
the  river  Montmorency,  precipitating  itself  into  the  St. 
Lawrence,  is  all  but  seen,  through  a  grove  of  firs,  and 
the  view  terminates  abruptly  in  the  perpendicular  pro- 
montory of  Cape  Tourment,  which  is  two  thousand  feet 
high,  and  therefore  may  be  distinctly  seen  at  the  dis- 
tance of  thirty  miles.  On  the  right  you  have  the  rocks 
of  Point  Levi,  and  behold  the  shipping  in  the  harbour,  at 
an  immense  depth  below.  Imagine  the  effect  of  this 
whole  fairy  scene,  connected  as  it  is  by  the  broad  sur- 
faces of  the  river,  which  is  seen  again  upon  the  edge  of 
the  horizon,  winding  round  the  stupendous  bluff  above- 
mentioned,  in  its  course  toward  the  sea." 

This  connexion  being  established,  there  is  no  difficul- 
ty in  continuing  it  to  the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont, 
and  their  continuation  through  Massachusetts  and  New- 
York  to  the  Highlands  already  mentioned,  as  passing  the 
Hudson  to  the  southward  of  Fishkill  and  Newburgh.  V- 

On  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson,  this  barrier,  called  by 
the  various  names  of  the  Highlands,  the  Fishkill,  Skune- 
munk,  and  Haverstraw  mountains,  becomes  the  Sucka- 
sunny  and  Musconetcunk  mountains,  in  New-Jersey.  It 
passes  the  Delaware  to  the  southward  of  the  places 
where  the  Lehigh  and  the  Musconetcunk  rivers,  fall  into 
the  Delaware.  It  then  continues  its  course  southwest- 
wardly,  crossing  the  Schuylkill  below  Reading,  the  Sus- 
quehannah  south  of  the  Swetara,  the  Potomac  above  the 
Great  Falls,  and  so  on  further  than  I  have  been  able  to 
trace  it;  being  however  associated  with  the  Short  Hills 

47 


370  RUPTURE  NEAR  NEW-YORK  CfTY. 

in  Virginia,  and  ultimately  with  the  south  mountain  on 
the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Shenandoah. 

Thus  the  second,  or  outer  barrier,  embraced  a  large 
extent  of  country,  reaching  from  Canada  to  Virginia. 


The  Breaches  made  about  fifty  miles  north  of  New*  York  City. 

A  geologist  finds  traces  of  three  openings  for  the  im- 
prisoned waters ;  one  through  the  eastern  barrier,  and 
discharging  near  the  boundary  of  New-York  and  Con- 
necticut, into  Long-Island  sound ;  another  through  the 
valley  called  the  Clove,  where  the  Ramapaugh  river  now 
runs ;  and  the  third  through  the  Highlands,  where  the 
Hudson  to  this  day  glides  along.  Through  these  several 
passages,  the  country  from  the  Highlands  to  Glens'  Falls 
and  the  Little  Falls  of  the  Mohawk,  in  length,  and  from 
the  Shawangunk  mountains  to  the  Taconick,  in  breadth, 
may  be  supposed to-have  been  drained. 

Let  the  explorer  of  the  scene  behold  the  fossil  and  or- 
ganic remains  which  have  thus  been  laid  open  to  inspec- 
tion. 

At  Palatine,  near  the  place  where  the  Canajoharie 
Creek  joins  the  Mohawk,  the  limestone  rocks  abound 
with  sea-shells>  chiefly,  if  not  altogether,  of  pectens,  ano- 
mias,  and  other  bivalve  species. 

Here  I  mention  the  fossils  of  Cherry  Valley,  situated 
between  lake  Otsego  and  Canajoharie,  south  of  the 
Mohawk.  Cadwallader  D.  Colderi,  Esquire,  represents, 
on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Morse,  that  petrifactions  are 
very  frequent.  They  consist  of  "  marine  shells,  horns  of 


ORGAMC  REMAINS  LAID  BARE  THEREBY.     371 

land  animals  (probably  ammonites  or  spirulas),  and 
plants ;  all  in  the  same  place.  They  are  found  on  the 
deepest  valleys  and  the  highest  hills.  The  valleys  most- 
ly bedded  with  limestone ;  and  in  the  midst  of  large 
masses  of  this,  the  petrifactions  are  found.  As  you  ascend 
to  a  certain  height,  the  hills  on  each  side  of  the  valley, 
the  limestone  disappears,  and  the  soil  is  totally  different. 
Confused  masses  of  the  slate  kind  are  found,  some  lying 
horizontal,  others  projecting  from  the  ground  at  an  angle 
of  about  forty-five  degrees.  In  the  midst  of  these  masses 
of  slate-rocks  are  found  the  same  petrifactions." 

The  whole  ridge  called  the  Helleberg,  about  twelve 
miles  west  of  Albany  city,  is  a  sort  of  argillaceous  lime- 
stone, made  up  as  it  were  of  pectens,  terebratulas,  spi- 
nilas,  and  oceanic  relicks.  It  was  here  that  the  very 
large  and  highly  remarkable  spirula  was  discovered, 
which  Simeon  De  Witt  has  circumstantially  described. 
His  narrative,  with  a  figure,  may  be  seen  in  the  Medical 
Repository,  vol.  10,  p.  350. 

Within  the  limits  of  Coeyman's  patent,  about  twenty 
miles  south  of  Albany,  there  is  a  great  body  of  Luraa- 
ehella  marble,  disposed  in  regular  strata.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  work  it ;  but  the  quantity  of  siliceous  mat- 
ter with  which  it  abounds,  renders  it  hard  and  difficult  to 
polish.  Its  constitution  is  very  curious.  The  slabs 
I  received  from  Roger  Strong,  Esq.  and  which  are  now 
in  the  mineralogical  cabinet  of  the  New- York  Institution, 
contain  a  variety  of  animal  remains,  and  all  of  them 
oceanic.  Among  these  are — 

Belemnites. 

Anomlas. 

Encrinites. 


372  MARINE  EXUVLE  EXPOSED  BY 

Terebratulas. 
Pectinites. 
Ostreas. 
Cardiums. 

An  Echinus,  with  its  radiated  prickles,  or  something 
resembling  it. 

Near  the  village  of  Claverack,  is  a  large  mass  of  cal- 
carious  rock,  resembling  a  hill  at  a  distance.  It  abounds 
with  shells  and  their  impressions.  The  foundation  of 
the  old  court-house  at  Claverack,  was  built  of  the  stone 
abounding  in  these  petrifactions.  The  relicks  here  are 
mostly  bivalve,  being  terebratulas,  pectens,  and  some 
singular  other  forms. 

To  Peter  Wynkoop,  Esq.  I  am  indebted  for  the  black 
marble,  quarried  from  the  strata  westward  of  Kingston, 
and  replete  with  marine  shells. 

In  Greene  county,  one  hundred  miles  from  the  Atlantic 
coast,  organic  remains  are  found.  Those  brought  by 
Mr.  Frederic  W.  Porter,  from  the  farm  of  Stephen  Platt, 
Esq.  at  the  village  of  Freehold,  fifteen  miles  west  from 
Hudson  river,  are  the  shells  (not  merely  impressions)  of 
pectens,  terebratulas,  and  cardiums,  bedded  in  a  heavy 
and  compact  sort  of  siliceous  clay,  charged  with  brown 
oxyd  of  iron. 

The  like  are  found  imprinted  in  clay-grit,  or  a  sort  of 
silico-argillaceous  lumps,  scattered  over  the  farms  for 
several  miles  north  and  south  of  Poughkeepsie ;  in  many 
instances,  the  shells  are  wasted  away,  and  the  cavities  they 
occupied,  remain,  together  with  their  sizes  and  shapes. 

The  whole  region  watered  by  the  Wallkill  is  scattered 


THE  BREACH  AT  THE  HIGHLANDS.  373 

over  with  organic  remains  ;  they  overspread  the  fields  ; 
they  appear  in  the  stone  fences ;  they  show  themselves 
in  the  walls  of  houses.  From  Warwick  to  Paltz  and 
Esopus,  oceanic  relicks  imbedded  in  stones,  are  constant- 
ly before  the  traveller's  eyes.  They  are  mostly  loose, 
and  mingled  with  the  other  nodules  with  which  the  coun- 
try abounds  ;  at  least  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  observed 
any  stratified  rocks  thereabout,  that  contained  them. 
Among  them  are  many  pectinites  and  terebratulas,  with 
sometimes  an  oyster.  But  peculiar  madrepores,  corallines, 
and  fulciments  of  polypes  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  If 
I  am  not  greatly  mistaken,  a  young  lady,  Miss  Anicartha 
Miller,  brought  me  a  stone  at  New  Hurley,  which  con- 
tained a  maritime  plant,  of  the  family^  of  valva,  or  fucus, 
not  petrified,  but  in  its  proper  form.  I  am  in  possession 
of  the  real  scale  of  a  sturgeon,  broke  out  of  a  stone  at  Sha- 
wangunk,  and  brought  to  me  by  Dr.  P.  S.  Townsend. 

The  fossils  of  the  Wallkill  region,  like  those  from 
Freehold  and  Poughkeepsie,  are  contained  in  a  kind  of 
wacke  or  killas,  in  which  a  mixture  of  fine  clay  and  silex, 
is  hardened  by  an  impregnation  of  a  brown  or  yellow- 
ish ochre  of  iron.  I  did  not  observe  any  of  this  class  of 
relicks,  lying  unconnected,  or  in  their  naked  state  in  the 
soil. 

But  there  is  another  sort  of  testaceous  productions, 
which  deserve  notice  here.  These  'are  the  shells  and  re- 
lieks  of  fresh  water  molluscas.  They  have  undoubtedly 
made  their  appearance  since  the  salt  water  was  drawn  off, 
and  thejf  form  an  era  in  the  geology  of  this  region. 

These  creatures  inhabit  certain  pools  or  ponds  of  wa- 
ter, in  the  depressions  or  excavations  which  are  frequent 


374  FRESH  WATER  MOLLUSCAS  THAT 

in  the  land's  surface.  Generally  they  are  fed  by  springs, 
and  there  is  an  outlet  for  the  superfluous  water,  after  the 
cavity  is  filled  up  by  boggy,  or  turfy  matter,  and  the  quag- 
mire overgrown  by  shrubs,  trees  and  smaller  plants. 
The  learned  world  is  greatly  indebted  to  Silvanus  Mil- 
ler, Esq.  for  an  admirable  topographical  description  of 
this  district.  The  shells  of  these  inhabitants  of 
the  fresh  water  had  been  collected  as  long  ago  as 
1803,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Akerly,  and  placed  with  the  other 
specimens  which  constitute  the  body  of  eonchology  com- 
pleted by  his  industry.  Great  praise,  notwithstanding,  is 
due  to  Thomas  Say,  Esq.  for  the  skill  and  science  he  has 
displayed  in  the  classification  of  these  and  other  mollus- 
cas  of  fresh  water ;  outstripping  all  his  cotemporaries, 
and  clearing  the  path  for  his  followers. 

The  shells  found  in  the  pools  are  small  and  delicate, 
and  are  of  the  following  species  : 

1.  A  carinated  planorbis* 

2.  A  plain  planorbis. 

3.  A  lymniaea. 

4.  A  spirorbis. 

5.  A  tellina. 

Their  remains,  after  death,  dissolve  to  marl,  or  a  white 
ealcarious  carbonate  like  chalk,  easily  effervescing  with 
vinegar,  and  exceedingly  valuable  as  a  manure.  Until 
the  fertilizing  properties  of  gypsum  were  discovered, 

these  marl-pits  were  mines  of  wealth  to  the  proprietors. 

t    • 

But,  as  it  has  been  believed  by  some  naturalists,  that 
those  shells  belonged  to  marine  animals,  I  state  it  as  a 
fact,  that  D'Jurco  Knevels  has  seen  all  the  species  just 


HAVE  SUCCEEDED  THEM.      MASTODONS.  375 

enumerated,  alive,  in  the  fresh  water  brooks  near  Fish- 
kill. 

The  vegetables  growing  in  these  little  swamps,  by  their 
abundance  and  decay,  furnished  a  great  quantity  of  resi- 
due, which  on  drying  is  found  to  be  inflammable ;  being 
in  reality  a  kind  of  peat.  In  some  places  this  is  twenty 
feet,  or  even  more,  in  depth,  making  a  miry  bog,  in  which 
every  heavy  body,  capable  of  breaking  through  the  turfy 
Covering  of  roots  and  plants,  immediately  goes  to  the 
bottom.  In  many  of  them,  a  person  who  ventures  on,  may 
shake  and  agitate  the  tough  surface  for  several  rods 
around. 

The  region  watered  by  the  Wallkill  is  peculiarly  the 
land  of  the  American  mammoth.  The  history  of  their 
teeth,  tusks  and  bones,  as  discovered  from  time  to  time  by 
the  citizens,  has  already  been  written  by  Silvanus  Miller, 
Esq.  and  Dr.  James  G.  Graham.  Their  respective  essays 
are  recorded  in  the  4th  volume  of  the  Medical  Repo- 
sitory. Mr.  Rembrant  Peale  has  also  published  an  inte- 
resting account  of  the  expedition  made  by  his  venerable 
father,  Charles  Wilson  Peale,  Esq.  to  this  district,  to  ob- 
tain the  materials  from  which  he  has  framed  the  skeleton 
which  gives  interest  and  grandeur  to  his  rich  museum  in 
Philadelphia.  To  these  several  sources  of  information  I 
refer ;  observing,  at  the  same  time,  that  in  this  tract  of 
country  there  have  probably  been  discovered  more 
fragments  of  mammoth  remains,  than  in  any  other 
district  of  equal  extent  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  I  refer 
to  the  writings  of  the  late  Professor  Benjamin  Smith  Bar- 
ton, of  the  ex-President  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  of  Go- 
vernor Dewitt  Clinton,  as  great  authorities  on  this  sub- 
ject. 


376  MASTODONS  OF  NEW-YORK. 

I  visited  the  tract  situated  near  the  Wallkili  in  the 
spring  of  1817 ;  and  it  was  ray  fortune  to  assist  in  the  dis- 
interment  of  a  mammoth. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  I  was  at  the  house  of  Anthony  Da- 
vis, Esq.  in  the  village  of  Chester,  near  Goshen  in  Orange 
county,  N.  Y.  Silvanus  Miller,  Esq.  Peter  S.  Townsend, 
M.  D.  and  Dr.  Miller  Wharry,  had  accompanied  me 
there.  We  were  met  by  Peter  Townsend,  Esq.  of  New- 
burgh,  Dr.  T.  Seely,  and  by  Messrs.  William  and  Isaac 
Townsend,  of  Chester.  During  the  evening  the  convex 
sation  turned  upon  mammoth  bones  ;  and  Mr.  Yelverton, 
who  came  in,  said  he  knew  where  some  of  them  lay,  at  the 
bottom  of  a  ditch  on  his  brother's  farm,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, dug  by  himself,  nine  or  ten  years  before.  In  the 
morning  I  encouraged  him  to  conduct  us  to  the  spot,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  after  the  arrival  of  our  company  on  the 
ground,  he  discovered  the  bones  with  an  exploring  rod. 

The  water  of  this  small  meadow  had  been 
drawn  off  by  ditching.  The  soil  had  settled  down ; 
the  cedar  trees  had  died ;  the  surface  had  been 
stubbed  and  smoothed  ;  and  it  had  been  converted  into 
a  neat  field  of  meadow  pasture.  The  grassy  sward  was 
underlaid  by  about  six  feet  of  black  peat,  or  fine  vege- 
table inflammable  matter.  The  sward  and  turf  were 
about  four  feet  thick  over  the  bones.  Beneath  them,  and 
immediately  around  them,  was  a  stratum  of  coarse  vege- 
table stems  and  films  resembling  chopped  straw,  or  rather 
drift-stuff  of  the  sea  ;  for  it  seemed  to  be  mixed  with  bro- 
ken films  of  conferva,  like  those  of  the  Atlantic  shore. 

It  must  be  remarked  also,  notwithstanding  the  occur- 
rence of  marl,  in  the  holes  or  ponds,  that  the  snails  and 
other  creatures  from  whose  shells  marl  is  formed,  do  not 


MASTODONS  OF  THE  ^TAALKILL,  377 

inhabit  all  of  them.  There  are  many  in  which  there 
are  none.  Where  the  marl  exists,  it  forms  the  lowest 
stratum,  or  lines  the  bottom  of  the  pond.  The  peat  and 
bog  lay  above  it. 

Whether  the  elephantine  quadrupeds  of  former  times 
visited  these  miry  places  for  the  purpose  of  food  or  drink, 
or  for  any  other  cause,  they  seem  very  frequently  to  have 
died  in  them.  When  their  bones  sunk  through  the  mud 
into  the  layer  of  marl,  they  were  secured  from  putrifac- 
tion  by  its  alkaline  and  antiseptic  quality.  But  when 
the  mammoth  expired  in  a  swamp  where  there  was  no 
marl,  the  bones  passed  more  rapidly  into  decay.  The 
mud  and  water  conspired  to  disorganize  and  destroy 
them,  from  the  time  that  they  settled  to  the  bottom. 

Those  found  by  Mr.  Peale  had  been  preserved  in  a 
marl  bottom,  and  were  in  sound  condition. 

The  skeleton  disinterred  in  my  presence  lay  in  a  peat- 
bog, without  the  presence  of  marl.  The  bones  were  con- 
sequently more  disorganized  and  rotten.  I  mean  by  this 
that  they  were  not  entire  and  firm  enough  to  be  extract- 
ed whole,  far  less  to  be  connected  together  after  they 
were  raised. 

The  bones  found  were  parts  of  the  feet,  legs,  shoulder- 
blade,  back-bone,  rump,  lower-jaw,  and  the  upper-jaw, 
teeth  and  tusks. 

The  teeth  were  in  good  preservation.  More  than 
half  the  lower-jaw  was  entire.  The  condyles  and  angle 
of  the  other  half,  crumbled  to  pieces  by  handling.  Yet 
the  portion  containing  the.  teeth  was  taken  up  nearly 
whole.  The  exterior  side  was  afterwards  removed  by 

48 


378  MASTODON  FOUNB  AT 

art  to  show  the  insertion  of  the  grinders.  Their  appear- 
ance is  represented  in  plate  III.  fig.  3.  A  view  of 
the  rest  of  the  lower  jaw,  with  its  teeth,  is  given  in 
fig.  2. 

It  was  found  that  the  upper  maxillary  bone,  with  its 
teeth  and  tusks,  were  there  in  their  natural  connexion. 
The  opportunity  was  very  favourable  for  discovering 
their  junction.  The  meadow  had  been  freed  from  a  great 
part  of  its  water  by  ditching ;  and  a  drought  of  long  con- 
tinuance had  contributed  to  lessen  the  fluid.  Measures 
were  adopted  on  the  29th  to  free  the  pit  from  all  its  mud 
and  water,  and  to  uncover  these  parts  of  the  head  in  the 
most  careful  manner.  For  this  purpose  Dr.  Townsend 
and  Dr.  Seely  descended  into  the  pit,  and  removed  the 
soil  with  their  own  hands.  They  discovered  that  the  pa- 
late bones  and  grinders  were  uppermost,  as  if  the  animal 
had  died  on  his  back.  The  former  of  these  gentlemen 
made  a  faithful  sketch  of  the  appearances  exactly  as  the 
bones  lay.  The  figure  and  connexion  of  the  several 
parts  are  delineated  in  plate  II.  fig.  2. 

The  tusks  were  of  different  sizes,  lengths  and  curva- 
tures; varying  in  all  these  respects  like  the  unequal 
horns  of  some  neat  cattle.  Their  appearance,  as  they 
were  supposed  to  look,  when  the  creature  was  erect  in^a 
standing  attitude,  is  represented  in  fig.  3.  The  right 
tusk  was  the  shorter,  and  its  length  was  seven  feet.  It 
was  thicker  and  blunter,  in  consequence,  probably,  of 
having  been  more  used  ;  and  such  employment  of  it,  may 
be  considered  as  the  cause  of  its  greater  curvature.  The 
left  tusk  was  nearly  nine  feet  long,  and  of  a  more  regular, 
taper,  and  pointed  form.. 


CHESTER,  MAY,  1817.  379 

Finding  it  impossible  to  elevate  the  parts,  by  reason  of 
their  decayed  and  crumbling  condition,  Dr.  Townsend 
took  great  pains  to  remove  the  soil  and  examine  every 
part  of  the  upper-jaw  and  head.  His  delineations  of  the 
form  and  structure  of  these  parts  of  the  skeleton,  as  cor- 
rectly as  he  could  ascertain  them,  by  laying  them  bare 
and  exploring  every  part,  are  given  in  fig.  1  and  fig.  2. 

The  flatness  of  the  cranium,  the  connexion  of  the  tusks 
with  the  head  by  exsertion,  and  not  by  gomphosis,  and 
the  insertion  of  the  grinders  in  them  at  their  origin,  will 
not  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  zoologists. 

My  own  situation  on  the  bank,  only  a  few  feet  from  the 
uncovered  relicks,  enables  me  to  state  my  opinion  of  the 
fidelity  and  correctness  of  the  drawings  my  friend  has 
made. 

After  having  then  taken  a  summary  survey  of  the  fossils 
brought  within  our  reach  by  the  subsidence  of  the  lake 
north  of  the  Highlands,  in  consequence  of  the  breaches 
in  the  dam  which  confined  the  waters,  it  is  proper  to 
inquire  what  were  the  effects  produced  in  the  districts  be- 
low, or  between  that  barrier  and  the  ocean. 

From  the  facts  which  I  collected  and  published  in  the 
American  Mineralogical  Journal,  in  1811  and  1813,  it 
appears,  that  the  whole  of  Long-Island  is  underlaid  at  a 
depth,  varying  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet,  from  its  present 
surface,  with  a  stratum  of  marine  sand  and  gravel.  In 
many  places  the  well-diggers  have  found  fragments  of 
clam-shells  and  oyster- shells.  The  periwinkle  or  murex 
has  also  been  discovered  in  New-Utrecht  at  the  depth  of 


380  ALLUVIAL  CHARACTER  OF 

sixty-seven  feet.  Within  the  same  strata  which  contain 
the  shells,  are  often  found  boughs  and  trunks  of  trees, 
bark  and  damaged  wood.  For  a  large  and  conclusive 
body  of  facts  upon  this  subject,  I  refer  to  the  valuable 
work  just  mentioned,  p.  129 — 133,  and  261 — 263. 

In  addition  to  that  mass  of  evidence,  I  now  mention 
two  more  occurrences  daring  the  year  1817. 

My  brother,  Judge  Singleton  Mitchill,  apprized  me  in 
a  letter  received  from  him  a  few  days  ago  (October)  that 
in  digging  a  well  in  his  neighbourhood,  on  Cow  Neck,  at 
North  Hempstead,  and  not  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  light-house  at  Sands's  Point,  shells  of  clams  and 
oysters  were  discovered  at  the  depth  of  forty-five  feet. 
On  the  same  occasion  a  piece  of  wood  was  dug  out,  pene- 
trated through  and  through  by  the  teredo  or  pipe- 
worm.  The  facts  are  well  known  to  the  workmen 
and  neighbours ;  and  have  since  been  confirmed  to  me  in 
conversation. 

Our  graduate,  Dr.  Bering,  brought,  a  few  weeks  ago, 
to  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History  the  fragments  of  clam- 
shells (venus),  found  in  digging  a  well  in  Shelter-Island, 
thirty-five  feet  below  the  surface.  Shelter-Island  is  situ- 
ated between  Gardiner's  bay  and  Southold  bay,  within 
the  north  prong  of  the  fork  of  Long-Island  on  one  side 
and  the  southern  on  the  other.  It  is  nearly  a  hundred 

miles  east  of  New-York  city. 

• 

Since  this  marine  alluvion  has  been  hove  up,  a  memo- 
rable change  appears  to  have  been  wrought  upon  the 
north  side  of  Long-Island.  Vast, numbers  of  loose  rocks 
have  been  superinduced.  They  all  appear  to  have  been 


LONG  ISLAND  FROM  MARINE  CAUSES.  381 

detached  from  solid  strata,  and  to  have  been  rolled  and 
worn  since.  They  consist  mostly  of  granite  and  gneiss. 
There  are  some  huge  masses  of  actinolite  or  radiated  as- 
bestos, and  many  of  ponderous  black  shoerl  among  them. 
Stones  of  many  kinds,  consisting  of  quartz,  shist,  ferrugi- 
nous oxyd,  breccias,  and  pebbles  formed  of  the  granite 
and  gneiss,  abound  every  where  among  the  rocks. 

. 

These  loose  and  rolled  rocks  are  most  abundant  in  the 
towns  of  North-Hempstead  and  Flushing,  particularly 
the  former.  Their  great  weight  and  bulk  must  have  re- 
quired extraordinary  power  to  detach  them  from  their 
primitive  beds,  and  to  have  placed  them  \vhere  they  now 
lie.  Along  the  shores  and  over  the  fields,  stones  have 
been  found  now  and  then,  in  which  prganic  remains  of 
shells  could  be  distinguished. 

There  is  a  ridge  of  hills  upon  Long-Island,  separating 
it  into  two  sections,  the  north  and  the  south  side.  They 
extend  from  New-Utretcht  in  the  west,  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Southold  in  the  east.  They  are  highest  in  North- 
Hempstead,  and  gradually  slope  away  on  both  directions 
until  they  disappear  in  King's  county,  near  the  Narrows, 
and  in  Suffolk,  as  they  approach  River-Head. 

Their  greatest  elevation  at  the  Harbour  Hill,  as  found 
by  Capt.  Partridge,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Haines,  Mr. 
Griffith,  Professor EJUcott,  Judge  Mitchill,  and  myself,  in 
the  summer  of  1816,  is  three  hundred  and  nineteen  feet. 
My  letter  to  Mr.  Dallas,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States,  (of  October  16,  1816)  contains  the 
particulars  of  that  expedition  and  experiment. 

The  north  side  of  the  Long-Island  ridge  of  hills  is  so 
Different  from  the  south  side,  that  a  traveller  naturally 


382  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  INLAND  FLOOD  UPON  THE 

asks  whence  came  the  rounded  rocks  and  stones  which 
occupy  the  north  side,  while  there  is  not  a  pebble  as  large 
as  an  egg,  on  the  south  ?  A  geologist  may  probably 
answer  the  query,  by  deriving  them  from  the  barrier, 
which  the  lake  has  not,  in  this  instance,  been  able  to  force 
through  and  through.  The  mountains  of  Fishkill,  con- 
tinued northeastward  to  Quaker  Hill,  seemed  to  have  re- 
sisted the  pressure.  But  it  also  seems  that  a  partial 
breach  was  made  by  the  Ten-Mile  river,  a  branch  of  the 
Housatonick,  invthe  town  of  Amenia,  Dutchess  County, 
New-York,  contiguous  to  Lichfield  county,  Con- 
necticut. The  water  issuing  this  way  reaches  Long- 
Island  Sound  at  Stratford.  Another  partial  breach  was 
made  by  the  Croton  river,  which  rises  near  the  Connecti- 
cut line,  and  empties  into  the  Hudson  at  the  Tappan 
Sea.  But  the  lake  above  might  have  overflowed  the 
dam,  which  it  was  unable  to  break,  until  the  channels  of 
the  Ten-Mile  and  the  Croton  were  worn.  The  rugged  as- 
pect of  the  mountains  in  North  Salem  almost  lead  one  to 
suppose  the  flood  of  the  lake  pouring  over  Joe's  Hills, 
rushed  down  their  southern  side,  and  carried  along  the 
loose  and  detached  materials,  as  far  as  its  force  could  con- 
vey them.  Sand  and  stones  as  usual  were  urged  to  the 
greatest  distance ;  moderately  weighty  rocks  not  quite 
so  far  ;  and  the  heaviest  ones  loitered  in  the  rear,,  or  con- 
cealed themselves  under  the  water  of  the  sound,  where 
they  annoy  navigators. 

It  may  be  conjectured,  that  among  these  slow  but  steady 
operations,  the  strata  of  granite  at  Hellegate  were  broken 
down  and  torn  up  from  their  foundations,  and  the  Archi- 
pelago of  islands  produced  which  so  strongly  impress  the 
mind  of  the  traveller  as  he  approaches  that  memorable 
strait  from  the  east.  Some  of  these  islands,  such  as  Hur- 
tleberry  Island,  Pea  Island,  the  Brothers,  and  a  number 


NORTH  SIDE  OF  L.  ISLAND  AND  STATEN  ISLAND.    383 

more,  have  a  basis  of  stratified  rocks;  while  Hart  Island, 
Miniford's  Island,  Hiker's  Island,  and  several  others,  are 
modern  and  alluvial.  The  tide,  and  storms  from  the  N. 
E.,  have  done  much  of  this  work. 

I  next  proceed  to  trace  the  consequences  of  the  breach 
through  the  Clove,  where  the  Ramapough  river  now 
runs.  That  part  of  the  imprisoned  water  escaped 
through  this  passage,  is  so  plain  an  inference  from  the  ap- 
pearances, that  every  traveller  through  the  pass  readily 
and  involuntarily  draws  it.  Such  a  burst  of  rocks,  stones, 
sand  and  water  appears  to  have  been  driven  over  the 
region,  situated  along  the  Hackinsack,  Saddle,  and  Pas- 
saick  rivers.  After  sweeping  along  the  valley  lying  be- 
tween Bergen  and  Newark,  it  seems  to  have  rolled  up 
a  huge  pile  of  materials  on  the  north  side  of  Staten  Island, 
and  to  have  imparted  to  it  a  portion  of  its  altitude,  rough- 
ness and  character.  Another  mass  of  these  dislodged 
materials  appears  beyond  the  Rariton,  in  the  form  of  the 
Neversink  Hills,  carried  thither  by  the  impetuosity  of  the 
flood. 

The  south  side  of  Staten  Island  resembles  Long  Island. 
Carbonated  wood,  pyritical  coal,  and  other  organic  re- 
mains, have  frequently  been  discovered  by  digging  wells. 
At  the  Narrows,  where  the  fortifications  and  beacons  are, 
several  pieces  of  native  copper  were  found  by  the  labour- 
ers on  the  works.  Has  this  any  connexion  with  the  copper 
mines  near  Belleville,  above  ?  Over  other  parts,  iron  ore 
is  scattered.  Has  this  any  relation  to  the  iron  mines 
along  the  Ramapough  in  the  Clove  ? 

The  basis  of  the  Neversink  Hills  is  oceanic.  Up- 
on this  has  been  accumulated  the  mass  of  sand  and 
stones,  from  the  interior  district.  Near  their  summits  are. 


384  MARINE  AND  INLAND  ALLUVION 

detached  pieces  of  sandstone,  and  some  of  them  many 
feet  in  length,  and  of  considerable  thickness.  None  of  it 
however  is  stratified.  Has  this  broken  sandstone  any 
connexion  with  the  same  material  at  Belleville  and 
the  other  adjacent  quarries  ?  Their  height  as  found, 
barometrically,  by  the  gentlemen  already  mentioned  as 
associated  with  me  on  an  expedition  thither  for  the  pur- 
pose, in  1816,  is  only  two  hundred  and  eighty-one  feet 
above  the  tide-water.  For  the  particulars  I  once  more 
refer  to  my  letter  of  information  to  the  Treasury  depart- 
ment, and  to  Mr.  Blunt's  excellent  work,  The  North  Ame- 
rican Coast  Pilot. 

Near  the  foundation  of  the  Neversink  Hills,  is  a  stra- 
tum of  marine  exuviae,  that  give  to  Monmouth  County  a 
peculiar  importance.  It  is  a  sort  of  calcarious  powder 
tinctured,  as  is  supposed,  with  pyrifical  or  vitriolic  mat- 
ter, and  containing  the  remains  of  several  animals, 
Among  them  are, 

A  Belemiiite. 

A  Gryphaea. 

A  peculiar  Oyster. 

A  tooth  and  part  of  the  jaw  of  a  lizard  monster,  or 
Saurian  animal,  resembling  the  famous  fossil  reptile  of 
Maestricht. 

There  have  been  also  discovered  in  the  neighbouring 
region  extending  to  Shrewsbury  and  Middletown, 

A  Baculite. 

A  thigh  bone,  probably  of  a  rhinoceros. 

A  tooth  of  an  elephant  (see  plate  I.  %«  2),  and  in  a 


OF  SANDY  HOOK  AND  THE  NEVERSINK  HILLS.      385 

district  so  full  of  fossil  remains,  it  may  be  expected  that 
many  more  articles  will  be  found. 

That  the  reader  may  rightly  comprehend  the 
form  of  the  monitor  relick,  it  is  figured  in  plate  III. 

figure  4. 

••  ' .  .  .  .  ^  ~  **     -.  •' 

For  some  curious  and  instructive  remarks  on  the  geo- 
logical constitution  of  New-Jersey,  especially  of  the 
space  between  the  Raritan  and  Delaware,  I  own  my  ob- 
ligations to  the  Hon.  John  Rutherford.  The  report  of 
this  gentleman  and  his  colleagues  to  the  legislature  at 
Trenton,  on  the  feasibility  of  a  canal  communication  be- 
tween the  two  rivers,  contains  many  excellent  facts  and 
observations.  The  one,  that  the  Millstone  river  pene- 
trates and  passes  the  primitive  ridge  from  the  south,  in  a 
direction  diametrically  opposite  to  the  course  of  all  the 
other  rivers  on  the  continent,  is  very  singular. 

I  come  now  to  the  enumeration  of  some  of  the  proba- 
ble consequences  of  the  Hudson's  breach  through  the 
Highlands  in  the  channel  where  it  now  continues  to  run. 

Upon  the  supposition  that  this  was  the  fact,  a  great 
mass  of  materials  must  have  been  impelled,  in  a  dismem- 
bered and  confused  condition  to  the  lower  district  situat- 
ed nearer  the  ocean. 

The  island  of  Manhattan,  upon  the  southwestern  extre- 
mity of  which  the  city  of  New- York  stands,  has  a  basis  of 
granite  and  gneiss,  regularly  stratified.  The  strata  in 
many  places  are  nearly  vertical ;  that  is,  they  decline  but 
a  few  degrees  from-  the  perpendicular.  Sometimes  the 
rock  of  this  formation  breaks  up  with  sufficient  regulari- 

49 


386     INLAND  ALLUVION  SUPERINDUCED  OVER 

ty  to  be  laid  in  courses,  for  the  construction  of  walls* 
The  battery  near  the  southwest  castle  is  underlaid  by 
such  stratified  rock  ;  though  now  almost  entirely  covered 
up  by  art  in  the  progress  of  improvement.  In  thousands 
of  spots  over  the  island,  their  naked  backs  rise  above  the 
Surface.  Great  labour  and  expense  have  been  necessary 
for  opening  the  streets  and  avenues  through  them.  At 
Hellegate  and  Bloomingdaie  these  rocks  appear  in  their 
proper  and  geognostic  forms;  making  a  spectacle  highly 
worthy  the  notice  of  all  persons  of  taste  as  well  as  of 
science. 

Upon  this  foundation  of  ancient  stratified  rock,  a  very 
different  and  modern  deposite  has  been  made.  This 
is  more  considerable  towards  the  middle  and  southwest, 
south,  and  southeast  side,  th'an  at  the  other  extremity  near 
Kingsbridge  and  Haerlera.  In  its  passage  by  the  island, 
the  Hudson's  direction  is  considerably  to  the  westward 
of  south. 

The  inundation  from  the  lake  beyond  the  mountains 
has  left  some  strong  marks  of  its  action. 

To  the  eye  of  the  geologist,  it  looks  as  if  a  portion  of 
the  overwhelming  torrent,  repelled  by  the  Trap-wall  at 
Fort  Lee,  changed  its  direction,  and  opened  the  channel 
of  Haerlem  river,  filling  its  former  estuary  with  the  allu^ 
vial  matter  that  at  this  day  constitutes  Haerlem  flats. 

Like  Long  Island,  Staten  Island,  and  the  Neversink  re- 
gion near  Sandy  Hook,.there  is  evidence,  a  little  south  of 
Bellevue,  of  an  oceanic  stratum  of  sand  with  the  broken 
shells  of  clams  and  oysters  scattered  throughout  it.  This 
marine  stratum,  as  well  as  the  granite  on  which  it 


PRIMITIVE  ROCK  AT  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK.     387 

has  been  overspread  by  the  more  recent  alluvion  now 
under  consideration. 

The  alterations  perpetually  making  by  public  authori- 
ty, afford  lessons  to  the  naturalist,  as  instructive  as  if  they 
had  been  made  for  his  special  use.  While  streets  are 
opening,  and  hills  digging  down,  there  are  the  fairest 
opportunities  of  examining  how  the  strata  lay  and  of  what 
they  were  composed. 

These  alluvial  materials  are  disposed  horizontally, 
waving  in  some  places,and  dipping  a  little;  but  convincing 
the  beholder  that  they  were  so  arranged  by  the  action  of 
water. 

The  constitution  of  these  strata,  upon  which  the  city  of 
NeW-York  actually  stands,  is  sand,  gravel,  rounded  stones 
fit  for  paving,  and  loose  rocks,  some  of  them  of  enormous 
magnitude.  There  is  a  scarcity  of  clay  in  the  soil  ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  is  not  stiff  enough  to  form  bricks.  At  most  it 
is  but  a  sandy  loam. 

Nodules  of  stony  matter,  disclosing  by  their  fracture 
petrified  shells  and  their  impressions,  have  been  often 
found.  During  this  season  of  1817,  such  organic  relicks 
were  brought  to  me  from  Corlear's  Hook,  the  Battery,  and 
a  place  situated  between  the  Bowery  and  Broadway. 

Broken  pieces  of  compact  shistus,  alone,  and  associated 
quartz,  have  frequently  been  found. 


The  rounded  rocks  are  sometimes  six  feet  in  diame- 
ter. In  the  progress  of  alterations  made  by  public 
authority,  they  are  daily  disappearing  from  view. 
.Part  of  them  are  buried  in  the  ground  ;  but  the 


388  'PRIMITIVE  BASIS  OF  NEW-YORK  CITY. 

greater  part  rent  to  fragments  by  gunpowder,  and 
dragged  away.  In  a  few  years  much  of  the  scenery  I  am 
describing  will  vanish,  and  the  bustling  cit  will  hear 
with  wonder,  or  rather  refuse  to  hear,  the  curious  geolo- 
gy of  the  street  in  which  he  resides.  They  consist  of 
rolled  or  rounded  masses  of 

".    •    .•    .•:> •  -  '..:        '^i., 

Schoerl  rocks. 

Rocks  of  quartz  and  schoerl. 

Rocks  of  stellated  asbestos. 

Granite  rocks,  in  which  the  ingredients  are  variously 
associated  and  modified. 

Gneiss  rocks,  whose  constituent  parts  are  also  differ- 
ently mixed  and  combined. 

Now,  it  is  apparent,  that  there  is  a  strong  and  close  re- 
semblance between  these  alluvial  substances  in  New- 
York  city,  and  those  beyond  the  Highlands,  and  at  New- 
burgh  and  Fishkill.  For  example,  the  sand,  gravel,  and 
stones  are  of  the  same  quality  with  those  near  Newburgh, 
and  are  disposed  in  similar  loose  strata. 

The  shistose  fragments  occurring  in  New-York,  exactly 
resemble  those  in  the  region  north  of  the  mountains. 

The  primitive  rocks,  of  the  kinds  already  enumerated, 
can  only  be  considered  as  fragments  from  their  parent 
mountains.  Who  can  view  them  in  any  other  light,  than 
that  of  members  torn  by  violence  from  the  body  to  which 
they  were  once  attached  ?  In  short,  they  may  be  con- 
ceived as  the  materials  which  before  their  disintegration 
and  removal  formed  the  barrier  of  the  mountains  where 
the  Hudson  now  flows. 


ORGANIC  REMAINS  IN  THE  ALLUVION  OF  N.  Y.  CITY.  389 

But,  above  all,  the  fossil  remains  in  the  loose  and  de- 
tached masses,,  scattered  over  the  city  of  New- York, 
(and  rapidly  disappearing  from  sight,  as  houses  and  other 
buildings  are  erected,)  resemble  in  every  particular  the 
Ibssii  relicks  along  the  Wallkill.  The  specimens  brought 
to  the  New-York  Institution  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schaeffer, 
pastor  of  the  Lutheran  church,  by  John  Macomb,  Esq. 
Street  Commissioner,  and  by  Mr.  D.  Bruce,  are  docu- 
ments of  the  most  instructive  and  important  nature  on 
this  subject.  Had  they  not  been  found  in  the  city  of 
New- York,  a  mineralogist,  on  examining  them,  would 
pronounce  them  to  be  productions  of  the  .county  of 
Orange,  or  of  Dutchess. 

As  parcels  of  this  copious  deposite,  on  the  break- 
ing of  the  mountain  barrier,  may  be  reckoned  the 
islands,  with  their  shoals,  in  the  bay.  Governor's  Island, 
Oyster  Island,  and  Bedlow's  Island,  with  Sandy  Hook,  and 
the  spits  and  bars  in  its  vicinity,  ought  all  to  be  con-* 
sidered  in  connexion  with  that  grand  catastrophe. 

Some  of  the  minerals  and  fossils  seem  to  have  been  left 
by  the  way.  A  superb  specimen  brought  by  James  Smith, 
.Esq.  from  Mount  Pleasant,  or  Singsing,  in  Westchester 
county,  presents  marine  shells  of  the  same  character  and 
species  with  those  already  described. 

To  the  same  gentleman  I  am  indebted  for  the  very  sin- 
gular fact,  that  the  sandstone  at  Nyack,  in  the  county  of 
Rockland,  scarcely  more  than  thirty  miles  north  of  the 
city,  overlays  a  stratum  of  loose  loam  containing  the 
bones  of  mammiferous  quadrupeds,  or  land  animals.  Mr. 
Smith's  polite  disposition  and  zeal  for  science  induced 
him,  in  1815,  to  accompany  me  to  the  quarry  of  Mr. 
William  Palmer,  where,  on  breaking  up  the  sandstone, 


FOSSIL  BONES  AND  TEETH  OP  ROCKLAND. 

the  bones  had  been  disinterred.  The  proprietor  declared 
his  knowledge  of  the  fact.  To  convince  ourselves,  we, 
and  our  attending  friends,  went  into  the  quarry  and  dug 
out  bones  of  land-animals  with  our  own  hands.  They 
were  in  fragments ;  but  the  articulation  and  points  of  mus- 
cular insertion  are  evident  in  several  of  them.  The  spe- 
cimens I  brought  away  are  now  in  my  collection. 

/ 

These  relicks  were  not  petrified;  but  lay  scattered 
through  a  loamy  bed,  upon  which  were  a  stratum  of  sand- 
stone, eight  feet  thick^  and  another  of  arable  soil,  four 
feet  thick. 

The  place  where  we  found  them  is  but  a  few  rods  from 
the  right  bank  of  the  Hudson. 

Rockland  county  has  afforded  another  fossil  phenome- 
non. Eleven  miles  west  of  the  spot  where  bones  of 
quadrupeds  lie  buried  under  strata  of  sandstone,  and  only 
thirty-two  north  of  this  city,  the  remains  of  a  mastodon 
•were  found  in  July,  1817.  Mr.  Edward  Suffern,  jun.  has 
obligingly  put  the  set  of  grinders,  all  that  remained 
of  the  skeleton,  at  my  disposal.  Figures  of  one  of  these 
are  given  in  plate  II.  fig.  1  and  2.  They  were  acci- 
dentally discovered  by  a  ditcher,  who  was  opening  a 
trench  on  his  father's  farm  at  New  Antrim,  in  the  town  of 
Hempstead.  They  lay  in  mud,  only  three  feet  below 
the  surface.  They  were  large,  and  the  enamel  remarka- 
bly white  and  glossy.  The  roots  were  much  decay- 
ed. The  generous  donor  informed  me  the  cavities  of 
these  teeth  contained  a  fatty  substance.  None  of  this, 
however,  remained  when  they  were  brought  to  me. 

3.  The  breach  in  the  vicinity  of  Quebec,  by  the  rive* 
St.  Lawrence. 


BREACH  OF  ST.  LAWRENCE  NEAR  QUEBEC.         391 

When  this  opening  was  made  by  the  force  of  the  in- 
cluded water,  the  land  was  laid  bare  on  both  sides  of 
that  river,  as  far  up  as  St.  Regis,  including  the  islands  of 
Montreal  and  Jesus ;  and  by  the  same  operation,  the  land 
on  both  sides  of  lake  Champlain  would  be  drained  as  far 
as  Ticonderoga  and  Whitehall.  The  following  fossil 
relicks  countenance  this  supposition. 

The  specimens  of  pectinites  and  other  marine  animals 
brought  to  me  from  the  lime-quarries  of  Montreal,  by 
Professor  Andrew  Eliicot,  of  the  United  States'  Military 
Academy,  at  West-Point. 

Specimens  of  a  like  character,  filled  with  marine  ex- 
uviae, from  the  strata  of  calcarious  carbonate  at  St.  Re- 
gis, sent  to  me  by  the  same  gentleman. 

Ammonites  from  the  vicinity  of  Plattsburghr  brought 
by  his  excellency  Governor  Tompkins,  incased  and  pre- 
served limestone. 

Pectinites,  Ammonites,  Corals,  and  shells  of  various 
kinds,  observed  by  Bishop  Kalm  at  Crown  Point,  and 
other  places  along  Lake  Champlain. 

4  and  5.  The  breaches  made  by  the  Delaware  and 
Schuylkill  rivers  through  the  lower  barrier. 

The  alluvion  at  and  near  Philadelphia,  ought  to  be 
very  considerable,  since  two  rivers  have  concurred  to 
bring  it  down  to  its  present  location.  In  this  respect, 
the  site  of  that  beautiful  city  deserves  to  be  compared 
with  that  of  New- York.  Both  stand  upon  an  allu- 
vial base;  which  rests  upon  a  primitive  bottom.  Mra 


392  ORGANIC  REMAINS  IN  AND  AROUND  PHILADELPHIA. 

Maclure,  the  best  authority  extant,  informs  the  public, 
in  the  new  edition  of  the  Geology  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  &c.  just  published  by  Abraham  Small,  (p.  33), 
that  the  "  city  of  Philadelphia  stands  upon  primitive  rock, 
though,  at  the  Centre-Square,  thirty  or  forty  feet  of  sand 
and  gravel  must  be  penetrated  before  the  gneiss  rock, 
which  ascertains  the  formation,  is  found." 

Dr.  Amos  Gregg  has  stated  that  the  land  where  Bristol 
stands,  is  made  ground,  and  that  within  no  great  period 
of  time.  As  a  confirmation  of  the  opinion,  about  twenty- 
five  feet  below  the  surface,  the  earth  is  found  to  be  the 
same  with  that  of  the  adjacent  marsh,  to  wit,  a  black 
mud.  Both  are  nearly  upon  a  level.  At  that  depth,  in 
several  places,  have  been  found  large  sticks  or  rather 
logs  of  wood,  sound  and  uninjured  by  the  waste  of  time, 
except  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  on  the  surface.  He 
thought  they  were  of  pine. 

At  this  place  the  geological  appearances  are  so  pecu- 
liar, that  Mr.  William  Bartram  was  led  to  conclude,  the 
low  marsh,  meadows,  and  ponds,  situated  N.  W.  of  the 
borough,  were  once  the  bed  or  channel  of  the  Delaware, 
and  that  the  present  bed  of  that  river  was  a  low  isthmus 
which  connected  it  with  the  firm  land  of  New-Jersey. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Picture  of  Philadelphia. 
published  by  James  Mease,  M.  D.  shows  the  topographi- 
cal character  of  the  bottom  upon  which  the  city  stands, 
(p.  15, 16.)  The  "  immediate  substratum  of  Philadel- 
phia is  a  clay  of  various  hues  and  degrees  of  tenacity 
mixed  with  more  or  less  sand,  or  sand  and  gravel.  Un- 
derneath, at  various  depths,  from  twenty  to  nearly  forty 
feet,  and  also  on  the  opposite  shore  of  New-Jersey,  are 
found  a  variety  of  vegetable  Remains,  which  evidently 


ORGANIC  REMAINS  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  393 

appear  to  have  been  left  there  by  the  retiring  waters. 
Hickory-nuts  were  found  a  few  years  since,  in  digging  a 
well  upwards  of  thirty  feet  below  the  surface ;  and  the 
trunk  of  a  sycamore  (button-wood  or  platanus)  was  dis- 
covered in  Seventh-street,  near  Mulberry-street,  about 
forty  feet  below,  imbedded  in  black  mud,  abounding 
with  leaves  and  acorns ;  about  sixty  feet  distant  from  that 
place,  a  bone  was  found ;  the  stratum  above  was  a  tough 
potter's  clay.  In  various  other  parts  of  the  city,  and 
even  at  the  distance  of  several  miles  in  the  country,  si- 
milar discoveries  have  been  made.  Shark's  teeth  are 
occasionally  dug  up  many  feet  below  the  surface  near 
Mount  Holly." 

The  following  fact  is  told  of  a  fossil  found  in  Mary- 
land. Some  men  in  working  an  iron-mine,  at  Bush-creek, 
near  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  found  the  trunk  of  an 
oak  tree,  thirty  feet  underground,  fixed  by  its  roots  in 
its  natural  erect  position.  The  wood  was  penetrated  by 
the  ore.  The  specimen  of  this  curious  transformation 
was  exhibited  in  Philadelphia.  (Col.  Mag.  v.  1.  p.  268). 

Alluvion  of  the  Susquehannah. 

I  cannot  suppress  the  persuasion  that  great  deposites 
have  been  made  by  the  impetuous  stream  of  the  Susque- 
hannah. Spesutia  island,  Poole's  island,  and  the  adjacent 
shores,  bear  witness  of  these  circumstances. 

Near  the  end  of  October,  18 IT,  charcoal  and  ashes 
were  found,  fifty  feet  below  the  surface,  near  Elkton,  at 
the  head  of  Chesapeake  bay.  The  proprietor,  Mr.  Thomas 
Moore,  an  inhabitant  of  Elktow-neck,  and  residing 
four  miles  from  the  shore,  was  digging  a  well  when  he 
discovered  these  articles.  The  quantity  of  charred  coal 

50 


394  ORGANIC    REMAINS    tfEAR 

and  ashes  raised,  *was  six  cartloads.  There  was  also  a 
parcel  of  burned'  brands,  or  pieces  of  wood,  charred  at 
one  end,  found  at  the  same  depth.  These  were  birch 
and  beech,  and  -though  soft,  sufficiently  entire  to  be 
ascertained  and  distinguished.  On  many  of  the  pieces 
there  were  marks  of  edged  tools,  and  of  their  having 
been  split  by  human  hands.  These  pieces  of  burned 
wood  filled  a  corn  basket,  of  the  capacity  of  two  bushels. 

In  penetrating*  to  this  depth  they  passed  common  soil, 
yellow  gravel  alid  stiff  clay;  and  they  found  water  at 
the  very  place  where  the  charcoal,  ashes  and  wood  lay. 
The  soil  above  was  overgrown  with  ancient  trees  of 
hickory  and  oak. 

I  remember,  that  petrified  bones,  apparently  of  a  whale, 
were  brought  from  the  shore  of  Chesapeake  bay,  near 
the  place  where  the  river  Patuxent  enters  it,  to  the  City 
of  Washington,  by  Mr.  O'Neale. 

In  the  geographical  description  of  the  country  around 
Baltimore,  by  Dr.  Horace  H.  Hayden,  there  is  a  fact  con- 
cerning organic  remains.  In  digging  a  well  in  that  part 
of  the  city  east  of  Jones's  falls,  called  Old-Town,  a  log 
and  a  nut  of  the  black-walnut-tree,  were  found  twenty- 
one  feet  below  the  present  surface,  in  a  good  state  of 
preservation. 

The  grinder  of  an  elephant  was  dug  out  of  the  ground 
by  the  side  of  Mmarsh,  in  Queen  Ann's  county,  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  while  opening  a  ditch.  It 
differs,  as  Dr.  Hayden  observes,  in  some  respects  from 
the  African  as  well  as  from  the  Asiatic  elephant's  grinder. 
The  depth  of  this  tooth  is  nine  inches ;  the  length  of  the 
grinding  surface  nine ;  breadth  four  and  a  half.  It  ha? 


THE   HEAD    OP   CHESAPEAKE   BAY.  395 

twenty-one  ovoidai  processes,  or  what  Mr.  Blake  calls 
conical  processes.  It  is  considerably  convex  on  one 
side,  which  leads  to  a  belief  that  it  is  a  grinder  of  the 
upper  jaw  ;  the  convex  side  corresponding  with  the  arch 
of  the  zygoma  and  alveolar  circle.  Its  weight,  after  the 
loss  of  its  roots  and  gelatinous  matter,  is  more  than  ten 
pounds. 

At  upper  Marlborough,  on  the  Patuxent  river,  there 
is  a  stratum  of  rock  of  a  gray  shore-sand,  filled  with 
shells  of  an  univalve  mollusca,  which  seems  to  be  a  buc- 
cinum.  The  specimens  I  possess  are  very  beautiful. 

I  possess  also  the  moulds,  in  indurated  clay,  of  that 
spiral  shell  which  resembles  a  cork  screw.  In  these 
the  covering  has  perished,  and  the  earthy  core  alone 
remains.  Some  of  them  have  been  flattened  and  distort- 
ed by  compression. 


The  fossil  remains  in  this  region,  bordering  on  the 
quehannah  and  the  Chesapeake,  afford  proofs  like  those 
already  stated  of  a  deposite  from  inland  floods  since  the 
oceanic  strata  were  formed.  There  is  an  extensive  field 
for  further  research,  which  the  sons  of  science  in  Mary- 
land will  hasten  to  explore. 

The  effects  of  the  breach  by  the  Potomac  river,  upon  the  land 
below  the  Falls. 

The  region  with  which  I  am  more  particularly  ac- 
quainted, is  the  District  of  Columbia.  Washington,  the 
seat  of  the  general  government,  is  situated  in  lat.  38°  53' 
N.  seventeen  miles  below  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Poto- 
mac, where  the  locks  have  been  constructed,  and  about 


396         ORGANIC  REMAINS  ALONG  THE 

five  or  six  miles  lower  than  the  Little  Falls  above 
Georgetown.  It  is  just  at  the  head  of  tide-water,  which 
rises  and  falls  between  four  and  five  feet  in  the  Eastern 
branch.  Along  the  shore  from  the  mouth  of  Rock 
creek  to  the  Tiber,  the  land  adjoining  the  Potomac  is 
of  considerable  elevation.  From  the  latter  place  to  the 
point  at  which  the  junction  takes  place  with  the  Eastern 
branch,  the  shore  is  more  flat  and  low.  From  this  plain 
on  the  south,  and  from  the  bank  of  the  Tiber  on  the 
west,  rises  the  Capitol  Hill. 

The  height  of  this  hill  is  more  than  eighty  feet  above 
tide- water,  and  between  sixty  and  seventy  above  the  ad- 
jacent low  ground.  Digging  has  shown  that  all  the  strata 
are  horizontal ;  and  the  pebbles  and  stones  mingled  with 
the  sand  are  rounded  as  if  worn  by  water.  This  ap- 
pearance is  universal  along  the  banks  of  the  rivers  and 
the  streets. 

Under  this  mass  of  alluvial  materials  organic  remains 
exist.  They  lie  in  a  stratum  of  muddy  clay.  Trunks 
and  branches  of  trees  are  found  in  abundance  at  the 
depth  of  fifty-four  feet  under  the  surface  of  Capitol  Hill. 
Frequently  the  wood  is  blackened  so  as  to  resemble  coal, 
and  is  mingled  with  pyrites. 

Forty-five  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  lower  ground, 
near  the  Eastern  branch,  a  bough  of  sound  and  seasoned 
black-walnut  was  found  on  digging  a  well.  A  bone, 
apparently  a  rib  of  some  very  large,  or  elephantine  ani- 
mal, was  dug  out  of  the  bank  of  the  Potomac,  and  exhi- 
bited for  a  show.  Shark's  teeth,  or  glosso-petrae,  are 
often  raised  on  digging  wells,  further  down  the  river, 
as  at  Diggas's  point,  for  example. 


POTOMAC   AND   JAMES  S    RIVERS.  397 

This  will  show  that  there  is  a  marine  alluvion ;  and 
that  a  fresh-water  or  inland  alluvion  has  been  super- 
induced. 

The  AUuvion  brought  down  by  James's  River. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  this  stream  there  is  an  abun- 
dance of  organic  remains.  They  are  partly  derelictions 
of  the  ocean,  and  partly  accretions  by  the  floods. 

On  the  authority  of  William  Wirt,  Esq.  it  is  stated,  that 
as  far  west  as  the  Blue  Ridge,  marine  shells  and  other 
exuviae  of  the  ocean  have  been  found,  showing  that  the 
region  was  once  emerged  in  the  deep. 

Mr.  Chevallie  brought  me,  from  Richmond,  entire  tri- 
angular teeth,  apparently  of  sharks,  and  pieces  of  bones, 
probably  of  whales,  dug  from  the  depth  of  between  sixty 
and  one  hundred  feet,  in  the  city  of  Richmond.  Above 
these,  in  penetrating  the  earth,  were  found  bark  and 
wood,  and  the  thigh  bone  of  a  small  quadruped,  probably 
a  squirrel.  All  these  are  now  in  my  cellection,  at  the 
College. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  affirmed,  and  on  the  examina- 
tion of  the  distinguished  gentleman  quoted  in  the  para- 
graph before  the  last,  that'  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wil- 
liamsburgb,  in  1802,  a  considerable  portion  of  a  whale's 
skeleton  was  discovered.  It  was  about  four  or  five  feet 
under  ground ;  two  miles  distant  from  the  shore  of  James's 
river,  and  fifty  from  the  Atlantic  ocean.  Among  other 
parts  were  fragments  of  the  ribs,  and  all  the  vertebrae 
regularly  arranged,  and  very  little  impaired  as  to  its 
figure. 


398  REMARKABLE    FOSSIL    RELICKS 

So,  on  the  bank  of  York  river,  the  same  observer,  while 
walking  on  the  sand  beach,  noticed,  in  the  high  cliff  or 
bank  above  him,  strata  of  sea  shells  not  yet  decomposed, 
of  the  same  kind  as  those  which  lay  on  the  beach  under 
his  feet,  interposed  with  strata  ofea^rth,  showing  at  once 
the  comparatively  recent  retreat  of  the  water,  and  the 
subsequent  action  of  the  inland  floods,  and  of  the  winds, 
to  accumulate  soil  in  that  place. 

Benjamin  Henry  Latrobe,  Esq.  has  surveyed  4he  ma- 
ritime parts  of  Virginia,  from  Aquia  creek  to  Cape  Hen- 
ry, with  the  eye  and  the  mind  of  a  geologist.  His  pub- 
lication on  the  sand  hills  and  sand  quarries  in  that  re- 
gion, abound  with  interesting  fact  and  argument.  He 
found  carbonated  wood  with  loose  stone  to  underlay  the 
strata  of  Potomac-sandstone.  The  wood  mixed  with 
the  stone  near  James's  river,  appeared  to  him  less  carbo- 
nated than  on  the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock.  In  the 
vicinity  of  the  latter  river,  at  Mansfield  below  Frede- 
ricksburg,  the  largest  mass  of  timber  he  had  seen,  lies  be- 
low the  freestone. 

The  Virginia  sandstone  does  not  merely  rest  upon 
vegetable  relicks.  It  is  penetrated  by  them.  To  the 
component  parts  of  the  stone,  such  as  sand,  clay,  pebbles, 
pyrites,  nodules  of  iron-ore,  oxyd  of  iron  and  native 
alum,  are  added  organic  remains.  Wood  of  all  sizes, 
from  the  trunks  and  branches  of  trees  to  small  twigs,  ra- 
mifies throughout  the  strata.  Sometimes  it  is  entirely 
carboned ;  or  the  wood  is  carbonated  and  the  bark  in 
a  fibrous  state,  so  as  to  have  a  net-like  appearance,  with 
a  considerable  degree  of  tenacity;  or  the  bark  is  fibrous, 
and  the  wood  in  a  state  quite  friable;  or  the  wood  re- 
placed by  a  pyrites  which  undergoes  decomposition  by 
exposure  to  the  atmosphere ;  and  some  other  forms. 


IN   VIRGINIA.  399 

While  treating  of  the  maritime  borders  of  Virginia,  let 
me  not  forget  to  mention  the  remains  of  a  mammoth 
found  on  the  bank  of  York  river,  in  1811,  about  six  miles 
east  of  Williamsburgh.  When  discovered,  they  lay  on  a 
marsh-mud,  or  a  few  feet  within  it,  surrounded  by  roots 
of  cypress  trees  penetrating  the  earth  where  the  bones 
were  found.  Those  roots  were  evidently  the  remains  of 
such  as  had  been  shot  forth  by  trees  growing  in  the 
ground,  now  removed  by  water.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  present  level,  where  the  bones  and  roots  are, 
and  the  top  of  the  adjacent  bank,  is  more  than  twenty  feet. 

I  received  these  facts  from  that  reverend  prelate, 
bishop  James  Madison,  then  president  of  William  and 
Mary  College.  He  visited  the  place,  and  examined  into 
every  thing  relative  to  the  discovery,  with  his  accustom- 
ed accuracy.  (See  further  particulars  in  Med.  Reposi- 
tory, vol.  xv.  p.  388,  390.)  It  will  be  there  found,  that 
the  parts  of  the  skeleton  raised,  were  the  ossa  innomi- 
nata;  a  femur  or  thigh  bone;  two  vertebrae  or  joints  of 
the  back;  two  ribs  almost  entire;  two  tusks  in  tolerable 
preservation ;  seven  teeth,  all  of  them  grinders,  and  four 
of  them  fixed  in  their  sockets,  which  seemed  to  be  part 
of  the  lower  jaw. — The  weight  of  the  largest  tooth  was 
7  l-4ib. ;  of  the  smaller,  from  3  to  41b. 

Other  Fossil  Remains  in  the  United  States* 
Rhode  Island. 

Rhode  Island  contains  a  stratum  of  coal.  It  burns 
with  little  or  no  flame,  and  is  somewhat  difficult  to  kin- 
dle ;  but  makes  an  intensely  hot  fire.  It  is  associated 
frequently  with  quartz,  and  sometimes  with  asbestos 
crystallized.  ,It  does  not  emit  any  kind  of  offensive 


400  VEGETABLE    AND    ANIMAL  KELICKS    IN 

vapour;  and  is  therefore  as  good  for  brewers  and  malt- 
sters as  Kilkenny  coal.  Over  this  coal  lies  a  stratum  of 
thick  coarse  slate,  containing  ferns  of  a  very  large  size. 
They  appear  to  have  been  petrified,  inasmuch  as  their 
substance  seems  to  have  been  there.  They  cross  each 
other,  throughout  the  several  laminae,  in  all  directions. 
Dr.  Case's  publications  afford  much  information  con- 
cerning the  inflammable  materials  covered  by  this  roof 
of  capillary  plants.  The  specimens  I  possess  are  very 
distinct. 

North  Carolina. 

At  a  place  called  Fishing  creek,  150  miles  from  the 
sea  coast,  and  almost  four  from  Tarborough,  in  digging 
some  little  depth,  they  found  a  part  of  the  skeleton  of  a 
whale,  wjth  sea  shells  in  abundance.  In  the  same  place, 
in  digging  a  well,  at  the  depth  of  almost  thirty-five  feet, 
they  found  a  cypress  stump,  with  chips  about  and  upon  it, 
and  an  iron  hatchet  or  wedge  sticking  into  it.  The 
skeleton  of  another  whale,  together  with  a  petrified  por- 
tion of  a  shark's  jaw  with  teeth,  has  been  found  at  a  place 
called  Williamstown,  more  than  100  miles  from  the  sea 
coast. 

About  a  year  ago,  the  skeleton  of  a  huge  animal  was 
found  on  the  bank  of  the  Meherrin  river,  near  Mur- 
freesborough.  It  was  dug  out  of  a  hill,  distant  sixty  miles 
from  the  ocean.  Capt.  Neville  and  Dr.  Fowler,  who 
visited  the  spot,  gathered  the  scattered  vertebrae  which 
the  negroes  had  thrown  out,  and  laid  them  in  a  row 
thirty-six  feet  in  length.  If  to  this  the  head  and  tail  be 
added,  the  creature  must  have  been  perhaps  fifty  feet 
or  more  in  length.  The  former  of  these  gentlemen 
enriched  my  collection  with  two  of  the  teeth  and  a 


FOSSIL    REMAINS    IN    N.    AND    S.    CAROLINA.        401 

joint  of  the  back  bone  that  he  brought  away.  The 
teeth  weigh  sixteen  ounces  each.  They  are  covered 
with  an  ash-coloured  enamel,  except  at  the  roots  where 
they  were  fastened  in  the  jaws.  Their  figure  is  trian- 
gular, the  sides  towards  the  apex  measuring  six  inches 
each,  and  the  base  four  inches  and  a  half  across.  The 
joint  of  the  back  is  not  cartilaginous,  but  actually  bony. 
It  is  in  some  degree  petrified,  and  weighs  twelve  pounds 
and  a  half.  It,  in  all  likelihood,  belonged  to  a  shark  or 
a  sea-serpent. 

The  Rev.  James  Hall,  a  missionary  from  the  general 
assembly  of  the  presbyterian  church  and  the  synod  of 
the  Carolinas,  to  the  Mississippi  territory,  published  at 
Salsbury,  in  North  Carolina,  a  short  account  of  the  more 
memorable  observations  he  made  during  his  journey. 
He  affirms,  that  abed  of  clam  and  oyster-shells,  as  fair  as 
ever  lay  on  the  shore  of  the  Atlantic,  is  to  be  seen  in 
an  old  field  in  the  Ghicasaw  country  (p.  58).  In  the 
Mississippi  territory  he  saw  freestone,  and  a  yellow  cal- 
carious  earth,  which  is  apparently  a  concretion  of  shells. 
He  observes,  that  it  burns  into  good  lime,  and  that  the 
land  is  destitute  of  stones. 

South  Carolina. 

Very  remarkable  organic  remains  have  been  disco* 
vered  in  South  Carolina.  I  refer  with  pleasure  to  Go- 
vernor John  Drayton's  View  of  that  State  as  respects  her 
natural  and  civil  concerns,  for  the  full  description  illus- 
trated by  an  engraving  of  the  teeth  and  bones  of  elephan- 
tine animals,  dug  out  of  Biggin  swamp,  in  1T94,  by  Colo- 
nel Senf,  near  the  head  of  the  West  Branch  of  Cooper 
river,  about  eight  or  nine  feet  under  ground ;  as  also  for 
the  distinct  account  he  has  given  of  the  stratum  of  enor- 

51 


402  FOSSIL  REMAINS    IN    GEORGIA, 

mous  oyster-shells,  extending  from  Nelson's  ferry  on  the 
Santee,  southwest  to  the  Three  Runs  on  the  Savannah 
river. 

» 

Georgia. 

From  the  information  of  General  David  Meriweather? 
I  learn  valuable  particulars  concerning  a  remarkable 
body  of  sea  shells,  now  existing  in  the  internal  parts  of 
Georgia.  Of  a  number  of  them  I  possess  specimens. 

"  The  shell  banks,  as  they  are  termed,  make  their  first 
appearance  on  the  south  bank  of  Savannah  river, 
near  the  place  called  White  Bluff,  about  a  hundred  miles 
on  a  straight  line  from  the  sea  shore,  and  run  about 
southwest.  They  are  not  one  entire  ridge,  but  the 
ground  is  higher  for  about  six  or  eight  miles  in  width 
than  it  is  above  or  below.  On  this  ridge  the  shells  make 
their  appearance,  in  many  places  near  the  surface,  and  in 
others  deeper.  Not  only  the  oyster-shell  is  found,  but  clam 
shells  and  a  scalloped  shell  nearly  similar  to  the  clam 
shell.  Some  of  them  are  large,  and  appear  to  be  entire; 
others  are  cemented  together.  I  think  I  have  seen  some 
of  them  large  enough  to  contain  the  foot  of  a  common 
man.  I  have  seen  the  shells  in  different  parts  of  the 
ridge,  for  the  space  of  forty  miles.  They  are  made  use 
of  for  lime,  but  are  not  supposed  to  afford  a  product  so 
good  as  the  common  shell  lime.  I  have  been  informed, 
that  further  to  the  southwest,  and  a  little  above  the  direct 
course,  they  get  a  congeries  of  shells  which  is  in  a  rocky 
form,  and  affords  a  better  cement. 

"And  what  is  more  extraordinary,  at  some  distance 
above  that,  there  are  several  quarries  of  a  kind  of  sile- 
cious  stone,  which  has  a  number  of  all  kinds  of  shell? 


FLORIDA,    AND  LOUISIANA.  403 

intermingled  and  dispersed  throughout  it.  These  are 
petrified  and  as  hard  as  flint."  These  are  wrought  into 
millstones,  and  are  considered  as  a  good  substitute  for 
French  burhs. 

In  a  spring  near  the  high  shoals  of  Apalachy,  are  found 
many  echenites  of  a  flat  form,  rather  larger  than  a  Spa- 
nish dollar.  On  the  upper  side  are  five  radial  bars  of 
four  rays  each.  The  upper  side  is  rather  convex,  and 
the  lower,  concave.  They  are  converted  to  flint,  and 
are  a  species  of  the  scutella  family. 

Florida. 

Ellicot's  Journal  of  the  occurrences  during  the  expe- 
dition for  determining  the  boundary  of  the  United  States 
and  his  most  Catholic  Majesty,  between  the  years  1796 
and  1800,  contains  valuable  information  on  the  fossils  of 
the  Apalachy,  Chatahouche,  and  Flint  Rivers.  Vast  strata 
of  limestone  abound.  It  seems  to  be  the  prevailing  basis 
of  the  soil,  and  almost  the  sole  ingredient  of  the  rocks, 
islands,  and  keys  quite  round  Cape  Florida.  It  is  com- 
posed in  many  places  of  broken  shells,  and  filled  with 
petrifactions. 

Louisiana. 

The  following  extract  of  a  Letter  received  from  William  Darby, 
Esq.  author  of  the  valuable  Map  and  Description  of  Loui- 
siana) contains  the  information  collected  by  that  intelligent 
gentleman  of  a  Fossil  Elephant  found  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  lower  Mississippi. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1804,  I  first  visited  the 
southwest  part  of  the  now  state  of  Louisiana,  Ope- 


404  ORGANIC  KEL1CKS  IIS 

lousas,  and  when  in  that  country,  learned  the  following- 
facts  : 

About  the  year  1797,  Mr.  Martin  Durald,  command- 
ant of  Atacapas,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  late  Wil- 
liam Dunbar,  of  Natchez,  to  the  following  effect:-— 
That  when  the  French  first  came  into  the  country  j  now 
Atacapas  and  Opelousas,  they  found  a  watercourse,  to 
which  the  native  savages  gave  a  name,  that  in  their 
language  was  equivalent  to  "  Carion  Cro"  in  French. 
Mr.  Durald  demanded  of  the  Indians,  for  what  reason 
they  gave  the  name  of  Carion  Cro  to  that  bayou ;  they 
replied,  that  in  the  days  of  their  fathers,  a  large  animal 
came  there  and  died,  and  that  so  many  carion  crows  as- 
sembled to  devour  the  carcass,  that  ever  afterwards  the 
creek  (bayou)  received  the  name  of  Carion  Cro.  Mr. 
Durald  further  states,  that  he,  after  his  establishment  in 
Atacapas,  instituted  an  inquiry,  and  found  that  part  of 
the  bones  of  the  large  animal  spoken  of  by  the  Indians 
had  been  recently  discovered,  and  were  to  be  seen  on 
bayou  Carion  Cro. 

Mr.  Durald's  communication  on  the  fossil  bones  at 
Opelousas,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  is  printed  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  vi.  p.  55.  In 
digging  wells  there,  various  bones  have  been  found,  such 
as  a  human  skull,  thirty -five  feet  deep ;  pottery  of  the  na- 
tives ;  oyster  shells,  twenty-two  feet  deep  ;  a  goat's  horn ; 
enormous  bones,  supposed  to  be  those  of  the  elephant ; 
teeth  and  jaw  bones  of  the  same.  There  was  a  cart 
load  or  more  of  these  huge  remains  in  one  place,  on  the 
farm  of  Mr.  Nerat,  as  Mr.  Dunbar  relates. 

I  myself  visited  Opelousas  in  October,  1804,  and  while 
there,  learned  from  Dr.  Raphael  Smith,  of  that  place, 


LOUISIANA  AND  MISSISSIPPI.  405 

who  resided  within  two  miles  of  Carion  Cro,  that  within 
a  few  days  before  my  arrival,  some  very  large  bones  had 
been  disinterred.  I  went  with  Dr.  Smith  to  the  spot, 
ana  assisted  in  digging  out  of  the  earth  a  jaw  bone,  an- 
swering exactly  to  your  Plate  VIII.  Fig.  2. 

I  measured  the  tooth,  and  found  it  four  inches  over 
the  enamel,  and  about  one  foot  in  depth.  It  contained 
transverse  lines,  as  represented  in  your  Fig.  2.  Plate  VI. 
The  fragments  of  this  tooth  were  sent  to  Dr.  Garret  E. 
Pendergrast,  of  Natchez,  who  remitted  them  to  Dr. 
Wistar,  of  Philadelphia,  in  whose  possession  they  now 
remain. 

It  is  a  curious  and  interesting  fact,  that  the  spot  where 
the  savages  reported  from  tradition  that  the  large  ani- 
mal died,  was  within  one  mile  of  the  very  place  where 
Dr.  Smith  and  myself  found  the  fossil  tooth.  The  surface 
of  the  ground  was  a  loose  loam,  which  had  been  formed 
by  accretion  of  soil  in  the  lapse  of  ages.  The  tooth  had 
been  opened  to-day  by  a  drain  from  the  Prairie.  The 
enamel  was  perfectly  entire,  but  the  other  parts  had  beea 
changed  to  a  carbonate  of  lime. 

Mississippi. 

The  earthquakes  which  shook  North  America  during 
the  years  1811, 12  and  13,  were  accompanied,  among  other 
occurrences,  with  an  ejection  of  warm  water,  sand,  and 
coal  in  the  region  adjoining  New  Madrid,  near  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Some  of  this  volcanic  coal  was  brought  to  me 
at  Washington  City,  and  in  May,  1812,  I  made  some  ex- 
periments upon  it,  which  led  me  to  a  belief  of  its  vege- 
table origin.  I  found  it  very  inflammable.  It  consumed 
with  a  bright  and  vivid  blaze.  A  copious  smoke  was 


^06 


FOSSIL   REMAINS  IN 


emitted,  whose  smell  was  not  at  all  sulphureous,  but  bi- 
tuminous in  a  high  degree.  Taken  out  of  the  fire  in  its 
ignited  and  burning  state,  it  did  not  go  out,  but  conti- 
nued to  burn  until  it  was  consumed.  When  blowed 
upon,  instead  of  being  deadened  by  the  blast,  it  became 
brighter,  and  the  ashes  turned  vegetable  blue  to  green, 
showing  its  alkaline  quality. 

Alabama. 

The  fossil  specimens  sent  me  by  Mr.  Magoflin  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  St.  Stephen's,  on  the  Tombigbee 
river,  are  highly  interesting.  They  consist  of  the  shells 
of  bivalve  molluscas,  and  of  sea-urchins  and  radiary 
animals.  Some  of  these  are  distinct  and  in  their  proper 
forms ;  others  compacted  into  limestone,  with  many  of 
their  lineaments  remaining ;  and  others  changing  and 
changed  to  chalk. 

Fifteen  or  twenty  feet  below  the  surface  is  a  stratum 
where  wood  is  found,  of  different  kinds,  partially  de- 
cayed. Beneath  this  and  a  concomitant  body  of  clay 
and  soft  limestone,  is  a  substance  resembling  the  grass 
on  the  margin  of  the  ocean,  accompanied  by  numberless 
marine  shells.  The  water  from  this,  on  first  being 

taken  up,  smells  like  bilge-water. 

— i 

Missouri. 

What  shall  we  think  of  the  genus  and  species  of  that 
petrified  skeleton  of  a  very  large  fish,  seen  in  the  Sioux 
country,  up  the  Missouri,  by  Patrick  Gass  ?  In  his  Jour- 
nal to  the  Pacific  ocean  with  Messrs.  Lewis  and  Clark, 
in  1804 — 6,  he  relates  that  it  was  forty-five  feet  long,  and 
lay  on  the  top  of  a  high  cliff.  He  mentions  also  a  petri- 


ALABAMA  AND  MISSOURI.  407 

lied  log  of  wood,  out  of  which  whetstones  and  hones, 
could  be  made,  in  the  Mandane  region. 


This  outline  of  North  American  geology  is,  I  am  sen- 
sible, very  imperfect.  Further  observations  will  be  re- 
quire4  to  fill  up  the  picture  and  finish  it  by  proper  co- 
louring. These,  as  they  occur,  may  be  arranged  in  their 
places,  and  contribute  to  the  excellence  and  beauty  of 
the  piece. 

With  the  acquisition  of  facts  from  a  wider  field,  the 
composition  may  be  enlarged.  Things  which  lie  beyond 
the  limits  of  my  survey  will  be  introduced.  In  process 
of  time,  it  may  be  expected,  that  the  whole  scenery  be- 
tween the  Caribbean  and  the  Frozen  seas,  and  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  oceans,  will  be  introduced. 

When  this  object  shall  be  accomplished,  our  contri- 
bution to  the  geology  of  the  globe  will  be  respectable. 
It  may  be  added  to  the  intelligence  concerning  South 
America,  laid  before  the  learned  world  by  Baron  Hum- 
fooldt  and  others. 

Conclusion. 

I  have  forborne  to  refer  any  of  these  great  changes  to 
epochs  in  time.  Chronological  dates  and  historical  re- 
cords do  not  reach  far  enough  back  to  answer  all  the 
purpose.  Viewing  the  face  of  the  earth  as  I  do,  some 
conception  may  nevertheless  be  entertained  of  the  syn- 
chronism and  succession  of  the  respective  formations. 
Let  us  take  them  in  the  inverse  order  from  that  which 
was  stated  in  the  introduction  to  this  Essay. 


408  THE  THREE  CLASSES  OF  DEPOSITES 

1.  Modern  depositions  from  the  briny  ocean.     These* 
as  they  consist  of  wearing  away  some  places  and  adding 
to   others,  are  in  daily  operation.     There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  such  changes  have  always  been  going  on 
since    our   planet  received  its    present   configuration. 
Many  of  them  are  subsequent  to  the  commencement  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life. 

2.  Depositions  from  fresh  water  are  also  constantly 
making.     The  showers  of  rain,  the  currents  of  rivers, 
the  trickling  of  springs,  and  the  bursting  of  lakes,  are 
all  instrumental  in   producing  alterations  of  this  kind. 
From  the  nature  of  these  productions   they  are  deeply 
connected  with  beings  that  have  enjoyed   life,  as  we 
know  from  the  vast  number  and  variety  of  their  fossil 
remains.     I  consider  these  formations  as  subsequent  to 
the  preceding  in  their  origin  and  commencement,  but 
coetaneous  ever  since. 

3.  Proceeding  further  back,  the  inland  seas  of  salt 
water  present  themselves.     In  North  America  they  have 
lost  their  briny  quality,  and  become  fresh  lakes  ;  while, 
in  Asia,    there  are  numerous  instances   of  inland   salt 
seas  to  this  day.     The  subsidence  of  the  North  Ame- 
rican lakes  in  the  first  instance,  and  their  conversion 
from  saltness  to  freshness  in  the  second,  are  occurrences 
of  the  most  interesting  nature.     They  have  given  a  pe- 
culiarity and  distinctness  of  character  to  our  geology, 
which  naturalists  among  us  will  learn  to  appreciate. 

4.  After  exploring  the   extensive  formations  of  this 
kind  in  North  America,  we  are  carried  to  the  most  an- 
cient foundation,  beyond  which  our  inquiries  are  inca- 
pable of  penetrating.     These  materials  probably  consti- 
tute the  solid  body  or  nucleus  of  the  globe,  according 


ON  THE  PRIMITIVE  FOUNDATION.  409 

to  the  original  arrangement,  when  the  confusion  of  chaos 
was  reduced  to  order,  and  at  the  command  of  their 
Creator,  the  waters  under  the  heaven  were  gathered  to- 
gether into  one  place,  and  the  dry  land  appeared. 

That  water  was  the  principal  agent  in  all  these  opera- 
tions, there  can  be  no  doubt, 

But  there  was  unquestionably  another  agent,  of  a  most 
powerful  character,  and  that  was  fire.  This  is  the  cause 
that  produces  volcanoes,  or  burning  mountains,  with 
their  explosions,  eructations  and  convulsions.  I  have 
not,  however,  dwelt  upon  them,  because  there  are  none 
of  them  within  the  limits  of  my  survey. 

Thus,  water  and  fire  acting  separately,  by  what  is 
called  the  moist  way  and  the  dry  way,  have  wrought  and 
are  yet  working  memorable  effects  on  the  superficial 
crust  or  external  covering  of  our  earth.  Jointly,  or 
acting  in  connexion,  their  operation  is  tremendous. 

Difficulties  have  been  raised  concerning  the  subsidence 
of  the  primitive  ocean.  I  have  published,  nine  years 
ago,  my  opinion  that  it  must  necessarily  have  diminished 
very  considerably,  for  several  reasons: — 1.  A  great 
draught  must  have  been  made  upon  it  to  form  the  at- 
mosphere. ,  2.  Another,  and  a  very  great  portion  of  it, 
entered  into  the  constitution  of  crystals,  where  it  is  so- 
lidified and  embodied,  3.  The  bodies  of  vegetables  ab- 
sorb and  confine  a  portion  of  it.  4.  The  bodies  of  ani- 
mals consolidate  or  contain  much  more. 

Geologists  have,  nevertheless,  called  in  the  aid  of 
other  causes. 

•f 

r-#/;    /":•  •:•..'**'•"•-:•.«.;•»  ^ -v. 


410  SEVERAL  HYPOTHESES  TO  AID  IN 

The  approach  or  the  stroke  of  a  comet  has  been  sup- 
posed, by   Count  Buffon,   capable  of  overturning  the 
order  of  things,  and  of  introducing  into  the  system  full 
as  much  confusion  as  the  strata,  and  their  organic   re 
mains  exhibit  to  us. 

Whether  this  was  the  fact  or  not,  is  impossible  for  its 
to  know.  Mr.  Kir  wan  has  given  weighty  reasons  for  his 
belief,  that  the  globe's  surface  has  been,  at  some  remote 
period,  most  violently  assailed  by  a  mighty  flood  from 
the  southeast.  Tearing  up  and  bearing  away  the  looser 
materials  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  it  has  brought  a 
great  body  of  them  to  the  northern,  and  impressed  upon 
the  Capes  of  Good-Hope,  of  Horn,  of  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  and  other  promontories,  the  marks  of  its  over- 
whelming force. 

This  opinion  corresponds  very  well  with  the  geolo- 
gical features  of  the  United  States.  What  agent  so  ca- 
pable or  so  likely  to  wash  up  the  sand  and  other  materials 
into  such  ridges  as  our  mountains  present?  The  impulse 
of  an  ocean  upturned  from  its  bed,  rolling  impetuously 
over  the  land,  and  carrying  every  thing  before  it,  may 
be  supposed  competent  to  the  accomplishment  of  such  a 
work. 
-^•'^•*;  yVj,  .  ;:/.|,  '•'•'$Hy*!:  ;'V 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  this  rush  of  wa- 
ters, and  concomitant  events,  by  supposing  that  our 
planet  has  changed  its  axis.  This  hypothesis  has  some- 
thing plausible  to  the  geologist,  and  seems  to  help  him 
out  of  many  difficulties.  It  places  the  poles  and  the 
equator  of  ancient  days  in  situations  very  different  from 
those  they  occupy  at  present.  Regions  then  cold  are 
now  warm,  and  districts  heretofore  bound  by  frost,  are 
at  this  day  cheered  or  parched  by  heat. 

i 

•    '•<  •;/•  * 


EXPLAINING  GEOLOGICAL  FACTS.  411 

I  was  desirous  to  know  how  such  a  projection  of  the 
sphere  would  appear.  At  my  request  Mr.  Darby  exe- 
cuted a  map  whose  equator  and  axis  are  removed  forty- 
five  degrees  from  the  present  equinoctial  line  and  poles. 
By  fixing  one  pole  to  the  northwest  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  and  the  other  to  the  southward  of  St.  Helena, 
the  equator  crossing  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  and  touching 
the  east  end  of  Cuba*,  runs  over  the  Atlantic  ocean  to 
the  eastward  of  Bermuda,  and  all  the  United  States  lie 
between  it  and  the  tropic.  The  continuation  of  the 
equator  passes  through  Ireland,  England,  Holland,  Ger- 
many, Poland,  touches  the  northern  shore  of  the  Black 
Sea,  and  brings  all  Europe  between  the  tropics. 

From  that  track  the  equator  may  be  supposed  to  have 
been  moved  to  the  place  it  now  occupies,  producing  a 
corresponding  action  in  the  physical  character  of  the 
globe,  and  on  the  life  of  its  plants  and  animals. 

This  notion  may  be  said  by  critics  to  be  unfounded 
and  visionary.  The  reader  will  remember  it  is  not  of- 
fered as  a  fact,  but  as  a  speculation.  Visions,  when  they 
are  known  to  be  such,  are  frequently  amusing,  and  never 
mischievous.  It  is  only  when  they  are  mistaken  for 
realities  that  they  mislead  the  understanding. 


APPENDIX. 


LEIBNITZ'S  PROTOG^A. 

JjrJLY  learned  correspondent,  Fr,  Adr.  Vanderkempa 
of  Oldenbamerald,  New-York,  has  favoured  me  with  a 
communication  too  important  to  be  withheld  from  the 
public  eye. 

c<  I  send  you  enclosed  the  outlines  of  Leibnitz's  Pro- 
togaea,  published  in  1749,  with  a  Preliminary  Disserta* 
tion  of  C.  L.  Scheidius.  Gottingen.  1749. — Inserted  in 
Leibnitz's  Works,  the  splendid  edition  of  Lud.  Dutens, 
in  vi.  vols.  4to.  Geneva.  1768. — By  de  Tournes,  torn* 
ii.  pag.  181.  The  Preliminary  Dissertation  of  Scheidius 
is  continued  till  page  199;  the  Protogaea  from  page  199 
—241. 

§  1.  Introitus. 

§  2.  Globus  terras  regulari  primum  forma  fuit,  et  ex  li* 

quido  indtiruit,  motrix  caussa  lux  sive  ignis. 
§  3.  Distinctior  de  globi  terrei  creatione  sententia,  et  de 

basi  illius. 
§  4.  Origo  aquae  .marinas  et  fluviaticas;  lapidum  item  et 

diversorum  terrae  stratorum. 
$  5.  Plurimas  globi  nostri  mutationes  post  primam  crea- 

tionem  ex  variis  caussis. 


414  CONTENTS  OF  THE  GREAT  WORK  OF 

J  6.  Unde  fuerit  aqua,  quae  terrain  obtegit,  et  quo  de- 

venerit?  nee  non  de  variis  diluvii  caussis. 
$  7.  De  Bructero  monte,  et  fontium  origine. 
5  8.  Metallorum  in  terra  situs,  venarumque  descriptio  et 

explicatio. 

§  9.  Mineralium  generationem  Chemia  illustrat. 
§  10.  Recensentur  productiones   laboratoriis  et  fodinis 

communes. 

§  11.  Gemmarum  generatio  et  naturalis  et  artificialis  est. 
§  12.  Sublimationes  naturales.     Ammoniaci  prasparatio. 
§  13.  Argentum  et  aurum  aliaque  metalla,  quae  statim  sua 

sunt,  vi  ignis  prodiere  in  venis. 
§  14.  Formas  quasdam  accipiunt  a  motu  aquarum,  ut 

rotunda  inter  lapides  et  metalla. 
§  15.  Qugedam  in  aquis  concrescunt. 
§  16.  Tophaceus  lapis  a  guttis  cadentibus.  De  Stalactite 

antri  Baumaniani,  de  cavitatibus  ingemmatis  saxo- 

rum,  et  de  cavernis. 

§  17.  Quasdam  a  caloris  et  aquas  conjunctione  oriuntur. 
§18.  Piscium  variorum  formas  in  ardesia  unde  provene- 

rint  ? 
§  19.  Ignem  inesse  globo  nostro  motus  terras,  Vulcani, 

pumices,  bitumen,  et  alia  ostendunt. 
§  20.  Pisces  in  ardesia  ex  veris  expresses  lusus  naturae 

non  esse  ostenditur. 
J  21.  De  variis  terras  stratis,  eorum  situ,  et  de  origine 

salium,  aquarumque  salsarum. 
|  22.  Montium  et  collium  origo  partim  ex  aquas  materiem 

molliorem  secum  abripientis  defluxu,  partim  ex  ven- 

torum  vi  et  terras  motibus. 

v, 

§  23.  Conchylia  marina  in  nostra  regione  et  alibi  passim 

inveniuntur. 
§  24.  Varia  conchyliorum  genera  mire  permista,  in  saxo 

et  glarea  non  esse  nata,  et  forma  non  mutata  et  situs 

ipse  ostendit. 


LEIBNITZ  ON  THE  PRIMITIVE  EARTH.  415 

|  25.  Conchylia  et  ossa  animalium  marinorum,  quae  effo- 

diuntur,  examinanari  et  resolvi  possunt  aeque  ac  ve- 

rorum  animalium  partes. 
§  26.  Antiquissimis  temporibus  maria  vicina  habuerunt 

aniinalia  et  conchylia,  quos  jam  ibi  non  inveniuntur. 
§  27.  GlossopetraS)  baculi  S.  Pauli  et  serpentes  Melitenses, 

lapides  Judaici,  Asteriae,  Trochitae  et  Entrochi,  &c. 

sunt  dentes,  testae,  exuviae  et  ossicula  animalium  ma- 
rinorum, non  vero  lusus  natures. 
§  28.  Hue  tamen  non  pertinent  polygonorum  figurae  in 

Crystalliis  aliisque  rebus ;  nee  ea,  qu33  in  saxis  prae- 

occupata  imaginatio  solummodo  videt. 
\  29.  Exploditur  ignava  quorundam  solertia,  quag  ludicra 

imaginationis  vi  quicquid  vult  in  lapidibus  figuratis 

deprehendit,  aliaque  a  veritate  aliena  comminiscitur. 
§  30.  Ubi  Giossopetroe  Luneburgenses  inveniantur? 
§  31.  Glossopetrae  sunt  dentes  Carchariarum. 
\  32.  Usus  Gtessopetrarum  medicus  illustratur. 
5  33.  De   Belemnitis,  Osteocolla,   Corallio,   Strombitis, 

Conchytis,  Trochitis,  Entrochis,  Ebore  fossili. 
\  34.  De  ossibus,  maxillis,  craniis  et  dentibus  minoribus 

et  majoribus,  quae  in  antro  Baumanniano,  et  alibi 

etiam  apud  nos  inveniuntur. 
§  35.  De  cornu  Monocerotis,  et  ingenti  animali  Qued- 

linburgi  eflbsso. 
§  36.  Descriptio  antri  Scharzfeldensis  et  ossium  in  eo  re- 

pertorum. 

§  37.  Descriptio  antri  Baumanniani  et  in  eo  contentorum. 
§  38.  De  Succini  natura,  et  quod  etiam  in  nostris  terris 

reperiatur. 
§  39.  De  mutationibus  terrarum  per  flumina,  et  de  ruina- 

rum  ingentium  apud  nos  vestigiis. 
§  40.  Tisurgis  prope  Mindam  montes  perrupisse  videtur. 

Ad  hanc  usque  urbem  olim  paludes  ab  Oceano  irri- 

gui  pertigisse  dicuntur. 


416  THE  PROTOG^A  OF  LEIBNITZ, 

§  41.  Ubi  nunc  Venetiarum  et  Principum  Estensium  re- 

giones,  ibi  antiquissimis  temporibus  mare  et  paludes 

fuere. 

§  42.  Fontium  Mutinensium  rairaculum  exponitur. 
§  43.  Caussa  horum  fontium  proditu-r. 
§  44.  Descriptio  stratorum  terrse  soli  Rostorpiensis  prope 

Goettingam,  Mutinensi  aliquo  modo  similis. 
§  45.  De  obrutis  terra  arboribns,  et  fossili  ligno. 
§  46.  De  Torfa  ej usque  origine. 

§  4T.  Singularis  de  arboribus  terra  obrutis  observatio. 
§  48.  Enumeratio  stratorum  terra?,  Amstelodami  in  putei 

fossione  observatorum." 


This  learned  and  curious  memoir  is  embellished  by 
many  figures,  contained  in  twelve  plates. 

Leibnitz  confesses  himself  a  believer  in  the  extensive 

._ 

operation  of  fire  upon  this  globe.  "  I  believe,"  he 
writes  in  his  fifth  letter  to  Mr.  Bourguet,  torn.  vi.  epist. 
5.  p.  213,  "that  our  globe  has  been  one  day  in  a  state 
like  that  of  a  burning  mountain ;  and  it  was  then  that 
the  minerals  which  are  discovered  in  these  times,  and 
that  are  capable  of  being  imitated  in  our  furnaces,  were 
formed." — "  Ilocks,  which  may  be  called  the  bones  of 
the  earth,  are  the  sconce,  or  vitrification  of  this  ancient 
fusion;  sand  is  only  the  glass  of  this  fusion,  pulverized 
by  motion;  sea  water  is  but  an  oleum  per  deliquium,' 
produced  by  cooling,  after  the  calcination.  Thus  the 
three  most  extensive  materials  on  the  globe's  surface 
(the  sea,  rocks  and  sand)  are  naturally  explained  by 
fire,  while  it  is  not  easy  to  explain  them  by  any  other 
hypothesis." 


APPENDIX.  417 


CONFIGURATION  OF  THE  COUNTRY  LYING 
SOUTH  OF  LAKE  ERIE. 

I  own  my  obligation  to  Professor  Chester  Dewey,  df 
Williams'  College,  Massachusetts,  for  the  following  in- 
telligence on  the  natural  formation  of  the  region  situated 
to  the  southward  of  lake  Erie* 

Almost  all  the  distance  from  Buffalo  to  the  head  of 
lake  Erie,  there  is  a  regular  swell  of  land,  generally 
about  five  miles  from  the  shore,  everywhere  presenting 
to  the  observing  traveller,  sufficient  evidence  of  its  hav- 
ing formerly  been  the  south  boundary  of  the  lake.  The 
land  south  of  this  ridge  is  generally  lower  for  many  miles 
— in  some  places  it  is  nearly  forty  miles  a  dead-level, 
except  when  it  is  interrupted  by  the  channels  or  beds  of 
creeks,  which  are  generally  deep,  with  almost  perpendi- 
cular banks*  The  land  on  the  north  side  of  the  ridge 
gradually  descends  to  the  north  about  one  mile  generally, 
where  is  a  second,  or  what  we  call  the  north,  ridge.  This 
is  not  so  high  nor  so  interrupted  by  mounds  of  sand  as 
the  south  ridge.  The  distance  from  this  to  the  lake  is 
about  four  mile's,  and  the  land  a  little  descending  towards 
the  lake.  Though  the  present  lake-store  appears  to  have 
been  fixed  for  centuries,  probably  the  southern  ridge 
was  once  the  shore  ;  and  for  the  following  reasons :  *  The 
south  ridge  is  composed  of  the  same  materials  as  the  pre- 
sent shore.  I  have  carefully  viewed  it  from  Coneaut 
creek  to  Grand  river,  a  distance  of  about  45  miles. 
This  day  I  have  been  viewing  a  newly  dug  well  in  the 
town  of  Wrightsburgh.  From  the  top  of  the  ground, 
the  first  three  feet  is  a  sandy  loam  ;  then  a  coarse  gravel ; 
and  then  a  layer  of  small  stones  of  the  same  kind  which 
we  find  on  the  present  lake-shore.  These  three  layers 

53 


418  APPENDIX. 

make  about  five  feet.  Beneath  these  are  successive  stra-* 
ta  of  the  same  kind  to  the  bottom  of  the  well,  which  is 
about  twenty  feet  from  the  surface.  At  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  in  the  coarse  gravel,  and  in  a  spring  or  rather  sub- 
terranean brook,  there  was  found  a  piece  of  (apparently) 
bass  wood,  between  two  and  three  feet  long,  and  two  OF 
three  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  evidently  a  limb  of  a 
trunk  which  is  now  buried  in  the  gravel  and  pebbles  be- 
low— its  direction  was  perpendicular,  and  its  texture  so 
little  impaired,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  broken  off. 
Lobster-shells,  cockle-shells,  and  clam-shells,  of  the  same 
appearance  are  found  this  depth  from  the  surface,  as  are 
now  found  on  the  lake-shore.  My  informant  describes 
the  remains  of  a  well-built  fort,  with  its  trench  and  mound, 
which  has  never  been  examined,  but  which  can  be  given 
you  at  another  time  if  it  be  of  any  importance  to  you :  as 
also  the  huge  human  bones,  which  have  been  discovered, 
with  some  articles  of  stone,  lead,  and  sometimes  brass, 
buried  with  them. 

In  support  of  the  above,  it  is  added,  that  all  these 
monuments  are  found  either  on  or  always  south  of  the 
south  ridge.  This  is  sufficient  proof  that  these  forti- 
fications were  all  built  before  the  recession  of  the  wa- 
ters of  the  lake  ta  the  north.  All  these  bones  are 
found  only  on  or  south  of  the  ridge.  The  land  is  higher 
on  the  south  ridge  than  for  a  considerable  distance  to  the 
south  of  it.  The  waters  once  inundated  the  land  for 
many  miles , to  the  south;  but  probably  by  the  constant 
breaking  of  the  surf  of  the  lake  in  the  shallow  waters, 
this  south  ridge  was  formed.  When  the  surface  of  the 
lake  Avas  lowered,  (which  probably  was  occasioned  by 
the  breaking  away  of  the  earth  at  Niagara3)  the  creeks 
broke  through  the  mound  of  sand  or  gravel,  and  thus  be- 
gan their  present  beds.  The  north  ridge  does  not  seem  to 


APPENDIX.  419 

have  been  the  boundary  of  thfi  lake  for  any  length  of  time ; 
and  it  really  seems,  from  many  accounts,  that  the  water 
ef  the  Niagara  once  run  off  to  the  southward. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  MARINE  RELICKS. 

I  insert,  on  account  of  its  peculiar  importance,  the  fol- 
lowing classification  of  the  fossil  shells  of  the  United 
States,  by  my  friend  John  G.  Bogert,  Esq. 

Pectinite,  «#rca,  Glycemeris,  Jinomla  Vitrea>  Ostrcea  Fascinata^ 

Terebratulites. 

These  specimens  I  chiseled  out  of  the  summit  of  a 
high  limestone  hill,  in  the  County  of  Columbia,  about 
300  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  Hudson  river,  and  dis- 
tant four  miles  from  the  river,  and  130  from  New-York. 

The  limestone  in  this  neighbourhood,  at  that  distance 
above  the  level  of  the  river,  abounds  with  specimens  of 
this  description,  and  extends  along  the  edge  of  the  sum- 
mit several  miles,  and  not  more  than  about  five  feet  in 
breadth  on  the  southeasterly  side ;  none  appearing  on 
the  northwest  side  near  the  Hudson. 

That  part  of  the  hill  from  which  I  procured  these  spe- 
cimens, presents  a  perpendicular  of  about  80  feet  from  its 
base ;  although  from  the  base  of  the  perpendicular  to  the 
•stream  or  river  below,  there  appears  to  be  a  descent  of 
at  least  70  feet. 

If  we  take  a  view  of  this  tract  of  country,  extending 
from  within  four  miles  of  the  Hudson  to  Hillsdale  on  the 
Taconick  mountains,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  where 
I  found  similar  specimens;  a  geological  mipd  cannot  be 


420  APPENDIX. 

otherwise  impressed,  than  that  this  region  has,  at  some 
very  remote  period,  been  covered  with  water,  as  the 
country  generally  is  alluvial.  Upon  examination  of  a 
great  part  of  this  country,  I  found  the  course  of  the  wa- 
ter, directed  towards  the  Hudson,  falling  in  many  places 
over  high  precipices,  and  the  rocks  very  much  water 
worn.  On  the  easterly  side  of  this  range  of  mountains? 
which  divides  the  state  of  Massachusetts  from  New- 
York,  the  water  empties  into  the  Sound  or  East  river. 

A 

Terebratulite. 

Gaultieri,  in  his  book,  has  made  a  particular  genus  for 
the  Terebratulites,  and  calls  them  Terebratula.  Lin^ 
naeus  calls  them  Anomia. 

Davila  ranks  them  as  a  genus  of  his  first  family  of 
Ostrea.  The  break  on  the  top  of  the  under  valve  is  perfo* 
rated,  and  rises  curved  upon  the  upper  valve  ;  the  hinge 
is  inarticulate. 

The  second  species  of  this  family  is  multarticulate ;  the 
hinge  lying  on  a  long  straight  line,  and  set  with  teeth 
like  the  arc  shell. 

The  specimens  I  have,  are  from  the  Ohio  falls,  Black 
river,  Jefferson,  Ontario,  Oneida,  Columbia,  Rockland, 
and  Orange  Counties,  State  of  New-York. 

These  remains  are  rarely  found  recent,  and  differ  much 
in  their  external  figure ;  some  are  globular,  and  others 
elongated. 

Area  Noe  and  Area  Tortuosa. 

These  specimens  I  procured  from  the  Wallkill,  Orange 
County,  State  of  New- York ;  they  are  imbedded  in  in- 


APPENDIX.  421 

durated  clay,  and  are  not  petrified,  having  the  shells 
complete,  and  in  some  instances  the  impressions  only  re- 
main,  the  shell  having  been  decomposed.  ^ 

The  arc  shell  is  found  in  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
West-Indies,  and  not  on  our  coast.  I  have  compared 
them  with  the  recent  shells  in  my  cabinet  from  the  Me- 
diterranean, and  they  correspond  in  external  figure. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  almost  all  shells  imbedded 
in  clay,  are  not  petrified ;  but  indurated  ;  having  the  ap^ 
pearance  of  having  been  submitted  to  the  action  of  fire, 
or  calcined ;  and  are  properly  denominated  Conservata. 

Pectinlte, 

A  variety  called  by  Linnaeus  Nodosa,  very  large,  5  to 
6  inches  in  diameter,  with  the  Tintinnabuhim  attached  in 
considerable  number  to  the  surface,  of  about  an  inch  in 
length ;  these  are  converted  into  sandstone,  and  found  in 
James's  river,  State  of  Virginia ;  these  are  generally 
equivalve;  the  hinge  lies  on  a  straight  line,  like  the  Es- 
callop, but  set  with  several  parallel  and  straight  ridges, 
and  furrows, 

I  have  specimens  also  from  the  Counties  of  Columbia, 
Rockland,  West  Chester,  and  New- York.  Those  from 
Columbia  and  West  Chester  are  imbedded  in  carbonate 
of  lime ;  those  from  Rockland  and  New- York,  in  clay. 

The  mass  of  Pectinites  I  found  on  a  mountain  in  Rock- 
land,  are  much  water-worn  externally.  Those  found 
on  the  island  of  New-York,  were  discovered  near  the 
State  Prison  in  digging  down  a  hill. 

I  have  also  a  singular  aggregated  mass  of  shells,  com- 


422  APPENDIX. 

pletely  converted  into  silex,  known  by  the  name  of 
horse-foot,  found  on  lot  No.  69,  Cayuga  reservation,  and 
presented  me  by  D.  Clinton,  Esq.  This  specimen  has 
never  been  described  by  any  writer  to  my  knowledge. 

Serpulite. 

A  fragment  of  a  Serpula,  if  extended  upon  a  straight 
line,  woald  measure  about  10  inches;  this  is  a  carbonate 
of  lime,  and  was  found  in  Coeyman's  patent,  near  Al- 
bany. 

Orthocerite. 

First  Species. — From  seven  to  eight  inches  in  length, 
and  one  and  a  quarter  inch  to  two  in  diameter  at  the 
base;  straight,  and  not  turbinated;  tapering  from  the 
broad  end  to  a  sharp  pointed  top,  like  a  straight  horn, 
(from  whence  its  name.)  They  are  chambered  from  bot- 
tom to  top,  and  have  a  Siphunculus  or  pipe  of  Cottcam- 
meration  from  chamber  to  chamber — pipe  central. 

These  specimens  I  obtained  from  Sullivan  County, 
New- York.  In  your  valuable  collection  you  have  seve- 
ral very  distinct  and  well  marked,  which  I  believe  are 
from  Jefferson — animal  extinct. 

Linnaeus  ranks  them  in  his  system  as  Nautilus  Ortho- 
cera. 

They  are  generally  casts  of  stone  or  replacements  of 
sparry  matter;  sometimes  fragments  of  shells  may  be 
seen  on  them. 

Second  Species. — Lituus.  This  exactly  resembles  a 
bishop's  crozier  in  shape,  has  a  long  stem,  cylindrical — 
one  end  whereof  has  a.spiral  turn ;  this  shell  is  soft  and 
easily  fractured. 


APPENDIX.  423 

Third  Species* — Turbo  Polythalamus — five  concame- 
rations.  This  shell  has  never  been  found,  except  fossil, 
and  in  that  state  only  one  species  has  been  known  to  me. 
It  is  turbinated  or  spiral,  of  a  lengthened  shape,  like  a 
buccinum,  is  concamerated,  and  the  diaphragenus  are 
jogged  like  the  Ammonite. 

J3  elemnite. 

Those  in  my  cabinet  are  from  James's  river,  Virginia, 
and  Monmouth  County,  New-Jersey.  From  Monmouth 
County,  they  are  found  in  marl  pitts,  near  Sandy-Hook, 
and  measure  from  three  to  five  inches  in  length,  having  a 
base  of  half  an  inch,  lengthened  to  a  sharp  point,  con- 
eamerated. — Linnaeus  classes  them  with  Nautuli. 

Gryphite. 

I  have  some  specimens  from  New- Jersey  and  Virginia; 
there  are  several  varieties ;  some  are  grooved,  and  others 
have  a  plain  surface ;  some  are  flattened,  and  others  al- 
most globular,  having  the  apex  conflected.  Found  in 
marl. — This  animal  is  extinct  in  this  country,  as  also  in 
Europe. 

In  addition  to  the  above  described  specimens,  I  have 
also  Corallites,  Encrinites,  Entrochites,  Echinites,  Cha- 
mites,  Cardites,  &c.  principally  found  in  the  State  of  New- 
York. 

In  addition  to  the  list  or  catalogue  of  organic  remains, 
of  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  give  some  account,  per- 
mit me  to  make  one  or  two  remarks.  As  there  is  a  va- 
riety of  opinions^ainong  geologists  on  the  subject  of  the 
formation  of  Obsidian  (although  not  exactly  belonging 
to  your  book  on  the  geology  of  North  America),  I  beg 
leave  to  mention,  that  Dr.  Barton,  of  Philadelphia,  pre- 


424  APPENDIX. 

vious  to  his  departure  for  Europe,  showed  me 
tiful  specimen  of  obsidian,  belonging  to  his  Mineralogi- 
cal  cabinet,  with  a  complete  Echinite  imbedded  in  it; — 
this  specimen  is  in  a  state  of  conservata,  and  not  calcin- 
ed. This  is  a  curious  fact,  as  it  offers  an  objection  to  a 
generally  received  opinion,  that  obsidian  is  of  volcanic 
origin ;  and  if  it  was  so,  the  calcarious  matter  must  have 
been  decomposed. 

I  would  also  make  another  observation  with  respect 
to  an  opinion  of  Cuvier.  He  says  that  crystallized  mar- 
bles never  cover  shelly  strata.  Perhaps  this  may  be  the 
case  in  that  part  of  Europe  which  has  been  examined 
by  him ;  but  I  have  discovered  granular  foliated  lime- 
stone, perfectly  crystallized,  in  the  County  of  Columbia, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hudson,  containing  pectinites, 
anomites,  terebratulites,  &c.  specimens  of  which  I  have. 

There  have  been  some  inquiries  made  with  respect  to 
the  rocks  catled  the  Pallisadoes,  opposite  Mount  Pleasant, 
on  the  Hudson  river.  On  examination,  I  found  the  lower 
stratum  running  under  the  river,  composed  of  a  beauti- 
ful red  granite,  and  the  superincumbent  matter  consisting 
of  a  species  of  basalt,  of  the  trap  family.  This  mass  of 
rock  takes  a  westerly  and  northwesterly  direction  towards 
the  falls  of  Passaick,  and  there  becomes  the  trap  of  the  se- 
condary formation;  in  which  I  found  several  pieces  of 
agate,  imbedded  in  a  similar  manner  to  some  specimens  I 
have  received  from  Leo.  M'Nally,  Esq.  of  Dublin,  which 
ke  obtained  near  the  Giant's  Causeway. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  INTRODUCTORY  Observations 321 

2.  The  Original  Saltness  of  the  North  American  Lakes  327 

3.  The  Barriers  which  probably  restrained  the  waters,  in 

some  parts  of  North  America,  after  the  ancient  ocean 
had  retired 332 

I.   THE  INNER  OR  UPPER  BARRIER,  ib. 

Breaches  of  this  Barrier 334 

1.  At  the  northeast  extremity  of  Lake  Ontario ib. 

2. Northern  extremity  of  Lake  George 335 

3.  By  the  Hudson  River,  at  Hadley ib. 

4.  Mohawk  River,  at  the  Upper  Falls 336 

5.  Delaware,  above  Easton 337 

6.  Lehigh,  above  Bethlehem ib. 

7.  Schuylkill,  through  the  Blue  Ridge 338 

8.  Susquehannah,  through  the  same ib. 

9.  — Potomac  and  Shenandoah 339 

10.  By  James's  River ,.... 344 

11.  By  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi .,... ib. 

Enumeration  of  certain  Organic  Remains  found  within  the  li- 
mits herein  delineated. 

A.    MARINE  PRODUCTIONS ,.... 345 

Oysters ,.- ib. 

Scallops 346 

PectinitCB,. ,,,,,,. ",..,,, ,,,,,,,,,..,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,.,.  ib. 

54 


126  CONTENT^. 

PAtfE 

Orthocerites . 346 

Madrepores « 347 

Terebrums  « 348 

Clams ib. 

Cockles . ib. 

Fish  Banks,  south  of  Lake  Ontario.-. 349 

Fossils  along  the  Illinois 350 

Fossils  in  the  state  of  Ohio ib. 

LAND    PRODUCTIONS. 

Ferns ib. 

Palms ib. 

CHANGES   WROUGHT   BY    THE    BREACHES    OF    THE    INNER  BARRIER. 

The  Falls  in  Black  River.... 351 

Onondago  River ib. 

Salmon  River * ib. 

Seneca  River... ib. 

Genesee  River ib. 

Niagara  River ib. 

Its  Channel,  as  worn  away  above  the  cataract ......  352 

Its  Channel,  as  torn  away  below 357 

The  Falls  of  Ohio 360 

The  Falls  of  Mississippi ib. 

B.    FRESH    WATER    PRODUCTIONS. 

Bones  at  the  Licks  in  Kentucky 361 

Of  Mastodons 362 

Elephants ib. 

Bisons ib. 

Mastodon  in  Indiana 363 

Pennsylvania » ib. 

Chemung,  N.  Y ib. 

Ohio.,                                          ,.,.  364 


CONTENTS.  427 


II.   THE  OUTER  OR  LOWER  BARRIER. 

Breaches  in  this  Barrier. 

1.  Connecticut  River  ......................  .  ........  ....  364 

Impressions  of  Fossil  Fish  ..........................  365 

2.  Hudson  River  ;  by  a  branch  of  the  Housatonick  ; 

by  the  present  channel  ;  by  the  Clove  through 
which  the  Ramapaugh  yet  runs  .............  ...     ib. 

3.  St.  Lawrence  River,  near  Quebec  ................  390 

4.  Delaware  River,  below  Easton  ,.  ................  391 

5+  Schuylkill,  below  Reading  .........................  ib. 

6.  Susquehannah,  below  Swetara  ....................  393 

•7-  Potomac,  below  Harper's  Ferry  ..................  395 

Salt  water  Fossils,  left  bare  .......................  396 

Fresh  water  deposites  ...........................  „.     ib. 

8.  James's  River  Alluvion  ............................  397 

C.     Other  Fossil  Remains  not  comprehended  within  the  fore- 
going limits  and  descriptions. 

Petrified  Ferns  and  Capillary  Plants  in  Rhode  Island  .......  399 

Teeth  and  Bone  of  (probably)  a  Sea-serpent,  in  North  Ca- 

rolina .........................................................  400 

Oyster-shells  and  Elephantine  Bones,  in  South  Carolina....  401 

Marine  shells  and  Echini,  in  Georgia  .........................  402 

The  like  in  Florida  .......  .................  ,.  ...................  403 

Louisiana  ......  .  .  .  .......  .  ......  .  ....................  404 

Mississippi  ......  ...  ...........  .  ......................  405 

Alabama  and  Missouri  ................  .  ...........  406 

Imperfection  of  this  sketch  ...................................  407 

Much  information  wanted  within  the  limits  of  the  Essay...  ib. 

Much  more  for  the  region  beyond  them  .....................  ib. 

Encouragement  to  Geologists  to  collect  facts  and  complete 

the  inquiry  .................................................  .  ,  .ib. 

Concluding  Remarks,  on  the  difficulty  of  referring  the 

events  stated,  to  epochs  in  chronology  ,.,.,,,,.,,.,,,  ?  .  .  «  .  jib, 


428  CONTENTS!. 

PAGE 
INVERSE    ORDER   OF    GEOLOGICAL    FORMATIONS. 

1.  By  modern  deposites  of  the  great  ocean 408 

2.  Deposites  by  fresh  water ib. 

3.  Deposites  from  saline  lakes • ib. 

4.  The  primitive  foundation  of  the  globe ib. 

My  own  opinion  on  the  subsidence  of  the  ancient  and  ori- 
ginal ocean  ;  as  water  was  (a)  turned  to  gas  to  form  the 
atmosphere  ;  (b)  converted  to  solids,  by  crystallization, 

to   form  minerals  ;    and  (c)  by  nutrition  to  constitute 
plants  and  animals  409 

OTHER    AGENTS. 

The  hypothesis  of  a  stroke  from  a  Comet 410 

Of  a  vast  Inundation  from  the  southeast....     ib. 
Of  a  change  in  the  Axis  and  Equator  of  the 
earth  forty-five  degrees 411 

APPENDIX. 

Abstract  of  the  Protogaea  of  Leibnitz 413 

Description  of  the  country  south  of  Lake  Erie 417 

Classification  of  American  Fossil  Shells,  &c.  ,.,.,....,....,.  419 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  PLATES. 


PLATE  I. 

Fig.  1.  Bird's  eye  view  of  the  front,  or  small  upper  grinder  of  the 
right  side  of  an  American  Mastodon,  dug  up  in  the  town  of 
Hempstead,  Rockland  county,  state  of  New- York, — about 
34  miles  from  the  city  of  New- York.— Length,  4  5-8  inches, 
breadth,  3  1-8  inches. 

Fig.  2.  Bird's  eye  view  of  a  tooth  dug  up  in  Middletown,  Monmouth 
county,  state  of  New-Jersey,  about  26  miles  from  the  city  of 
New- York.— Length,  9  8-8  inches— breadth,  3  1-8  inches.  It 
is  supposed  to  be  allied  to  the  Asiatic  Elephant. 

Fig.  3.  Bird's  eye  view  of  a  tooth  found  on  the  Eastern  shore  of  Ma- 
ryland. (From  Dr.  Hayden.)  Length,  8  l-a  inches— greatest 
breadth,  4  inches.  It  is  supposed  to  be  allied  to  the  African 
Elephant. 

Fig.  4.  Side  view  of  Figure  1,  with  the  roots  broken. 

Fig.  5.  Side  view  of  Figure  2.—- Showing  the  internal  part  of  the  tooth, 
the  external  lamina  of  bone  having  cracked  off.  The  white 
substance  exposed  in  this  view,  was  of  the  same  friable  nature 
as  that  in  the  roots  of  Figure  1,  and  4. — Greatest  depth,  8  1-2 
inches. 

JFig.  6.  Side  view  of  Figure  3.— Greatest  depth,  9  &8  inches. 


430        EXPLANATION  OF  THE  PLATES. 

PLATE  II. 

Fig.  1.  Exact  view  of  the  tusks  of  a  large  animal  discovered  by  Drs. 
Mitchill  and  Townsend,  at  Chester,  Orange  county,  state  of 
New-York,  in  May,  1817. — They  were  denuded  lying  in  this 
horizontal  position.  The  tusks  were  smooth,  and  of  a  yellow- 
ish brown  and  mottled  appearance.  This  elegant  surface  was 
traceable  all  around  and  above  the  upper  grinders,  which  were 
seated,  as  here  represented,  in  the  tusks  themselves.  The 
sharp  edge  of  bone  which  seems  to  have  surrounded  the  roof 
of  the  mouth,  and  which  is  seen  to  terminate  behind,  in  condy- 
loid  surfaces,  for  the  reception  of  the  cervical  vertebrae,  was 
afterwards  exposed.  The  space  within  this  circle  of  bone  was  so 
mutilated  and  crumbled,  that  an  £xact  delineation  could  not  be 
taken.  The  two  triangular  flat  plates  of  bone,  observed  at  the 
divergence  of  the  tusks,  were  continuous  into  them,  and  not 
divided  by  sutures.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  that  they  are 
separated  from  each  other  their  whole  length,  by  a  longitudi- 
nal fissure,  until  they  are  lost  in  the  convergence  of  the  tusks. 
The  posture  of  the  animal  was  supine,  or  on  his  back,  and  he 
had  lain  in  this  manner,  probably  undisturbed,  since  his  death. 
The  length  of  the  left  tusk,  which  was  wholly  exposed,  is  9  feet 
along  the  curve.  It  made  a  bold  curvature  outward  and  a  little 
upward.  The  right  tusk  was  7  feet  along  the  curve,  and  had 
a  direction  in  a  plane,  diverging  very  little  from  a  perpendicu- 
lar. These  bones  lay  about  6  feet  below  the  surface.  Diame- 
ter of  each  tusk  at  the  divergence,  8  2-3  inches.  Greatest 
breadth  of  the  circular  edge  of  bone,  '25  inches.  Distance 
from  the  condyloid  surfaces  to  the  upper  grinders,  18  inches. 

l*'ig.  2.  Side  view  of  the  lower  jaw  with  the  two  grinders  in  siture. — 
Length,  from  the  condyle  to  the  extreme  point  of  the  chin,  3G 
inches.  Length  along  the  base,  80  inches.  Length  of  the 
front,  or  smaller  grinder,  35-8  inches.  Breadth,  2  7-8  inches. 
Length  of  the  larger,  61-2  inches.  Greatest  breadth,  3  1-2 
inches. 

Fig.  5-  This  thin  flat  plate  of  bone  lay  about  ten  feet  deeper,  and  im- 
mediately under,  and  parallel  to  the  circular  edge  of  bone 
already  described.  It  is  separated  by  a  longitudinal  suture, 
and  before  its  bifurcation  is  contracted  in  its  breadth,  and 
bent  down  to  form  a  sinus  on  each  side,  apparently  for  the 
inception  of  temporal  muscles* 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  PLATES.       431 

Fig.  4.  Relative  direction  and  position  of  the  tusks,  with  a  conjectural 
view  of  the  shape  of  the  cranium,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  probably  associated  to  the  lower  jaw.  The  dexter  tusk 
was  shorter,  stouter,  and  more  crooked  than  its  fellow  :  The 
point  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  worn  and  blunted  by 
use.  Its  form  afforded  abundant  evidence  of  the  preference 
the  living  animal  had  given  to  the  right  side, 

PLATE  III. 

Fig.  1 .  Back  or  large  upper  grinder  of  the  right  side.  Length  6  inches- 
Mean  breadth,  3  inches- 

Fig.  2.  Bird's  eye  view  of  half  the  lower  jaw,  displaying  the  angle  of 
divergence.  There  was  enough  of  the  right  side  left  to  show 
its  direction. 

Fig.  3.  Perpendicular  section -of  the  aveolar  progress  of  the  right  branch 
of  the  lower  jaw,  giving  a  view  of  the  large  or  back  grinder, 
and  direction  and  figure  of  the  roots.  They  are  hollow,  and 
the  external  lamina  of  bone  is  seen  peeling  off. 

Fig.  4.  Tooth  and  part  of  the  jaw  of  a  creature  resembling  the  fossil 
animal  of  Maestricht.  It  was  found  at  the  base  of  the  Never- 
sinck  hills,  in  New-Jersey,  among  belemnites  and  oyster- 
shells. 

Fig.  5.  A  belemnite,  from  the  same  stratum. 

Fig.  6.  Petrified  echinus  from  Kentucky.  They  are  said  to  be  frequent 
in  the  Great  Cavern,  near  the  Green  river. 

Fig.  7.  Petrified  echinus,  from  the  upper  country  of  Georgia.  There 
were  many  more  at  the  place  whence  these  were  taken. 

Fig.  8.  Red  oxyd  of  iron,  containing  encrinites  and  shells,  from  Oaei~ 
da  county,  New-York. 


FINIS. 


-, 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)642-6233 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


YC  21533 


